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THE 



PRESERVATION OF FOOD 



FROM THE 



"AUS DER NATUR" OF ABEL. 



WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, 



E. GOODRICH SMITH. 
0tf.3Jf. 

HARTFORD : 

PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOD AND COMPANY. 

1357. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 
E. Goodrich Smith, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of 
the District of Columbia. 



ILL 



NOTICE. 



The following Treatise is one of those excellent mono- 
graphs which have appeared in an annual that has been 
published by Amb. Abel, of Leipzig, in Germany, under 
the title of "Aus dejr Natuk," for some years past. 
These volumes have secured high commendation in leading 
reviews of that country, and the various papers they con- 
tain are full of instructive knowledge. The design of 
every one of them is to bring down to the time of its being 
written, in a popular form, the information relating to the 
subject, mingling historical, theoretical and more especially 
Practical views, so as to give a brief and yet complete view 
i the topic chosen. In general this has been accomplished 
nost successfully, and many of these monographs would be 
of interest if presented in English to the reading public of 
this country. The present small work is offered as. an 
experiment to this effect. It is contained in the last volume 
of the " Aus der Natur," and relates to a subject which it 
is hoped will be found sufficiently attractive to secure for it 
a favorable reception. Within the compass of less than 
one hundred pages are condensed many facts in respect to 
the preservation of food, both animal and vegetable, a con- 
siderable portion of which will, it is presumed, be new to 
most readers. 

I have put in a few notes on the margin, and at the 
close, for the purpose of explanation or additional inform- 
ation. 

E. GOODRICH SMITH. 

Washington, 1857. 



TO THE 

Hon. JAMES S. WADSWORTH, 

Or Geneseo, N. Y. 

A grateful recognition of your kind patronage of this little work, 
and of your well-known interest in the spread of knowledge and 
information among the people. 
By Yours, Respectfully, 

The Translator and Editor. 



PRESERVATION OF FOOD. 



From the moment that man was thrust forth 
from the gates of Paradise, and the declaration was 
made to him, " In the sweat of thy brow thou 
shalt eat thy bread all the days of thy life," — that 
is, from the moment when man came forth upon 
the earth, the warning voice of his stomach, — for 
some the greatest tyrant, for others the greatest 
divinity, — has taught him that man can not live 
from hand to mouth, but must exercise anxiety 
and care for coming days. So it is with the course 
of things in nature. The earth, which dispenses 
her gifts with the liberal hand of a mother, needs, 
from time to time, repose in order to gather again 
into her bosom new strength. Then comes an 
apparent stand-still in vegetation, to which man 
was certainly first pointed to enjoy life, and during 
a long period it offers nothing by which he can 
quell his hunger, the daily spirit of uneasiness to 
him. 

Thus, it was nature herself, which at first caught 
in her arms, the needy creature, so man calls himself, 
and laid her pointing finger, not unnoticed, before 
his eyes. Ever since the memory of man, we find 
a complete succession of methods in use for the 
1* 



6 

preservation of food. Indeed, he who takes plea- 
sure in drawing them forth from the dust of libra- 
ries and rummaging the old works by which the 
actions and industry of man since the remotest 
periods, are transmitted to us, may say of the 
latest inventions, that though they have been in- 
deed written out, claimed and patented as such, 
"they have been already in use." 

From the time of the childhood of mankind, only 
scanty notices, it is true, have been delivered to us, 
but they justify broader conclusions. For many 
centuries before the Christian Era, careful atten- 
tion was given to chemistry in Egypt ; so that this 
science here attained a proportionably high devel- 
opment. Here, also, we derive the first knowledge 
that they understood how to preserve, if not food 
itself, yet organic substance generally from destruc- 
tion. The proofs exist at this day, in the various 
museums of Europe. There are the mummies, 
dead bodies preserved for many centuries. The 
oldest credible documents in relation to this sub- 
ject, we owe to Moses, and to Herodotus, who lived 
more than a thousand years afterwards. The 
former, was certainly in a situation to give us ac- 
curate information respecting the process which 
the priests, in whose hands was the science, em- 
ployed. But he limits himself to giving us the 
fact, that Joseph caused the body of his father to 
be embalmed, and this operation lasted forty days, 
the usual time. Herodotus has, indeed, left us par- 
ticular details at length ; but they are somewhat 



inexact, and hence, have often been disputed. But 
we must remember that the antiquarians, who have 
expressed the opinion, that the old Egyptians could 
never have used the process given by Herodotus, 
had little scientific knowledge. It seems to us, on 
the contrary, that Herodotus is not so wholly 
wrong ; he names to us the substances which 
are used, even at the present day, for similar ob- 
jects ; spices, ethereal oils, and probably, common 
salt, or the soda (carbonate of soda) which is now 
a national product in Egypt. 

Even at the present day, the mummies are an 
object of the greatest wonder. But we go too far, 
when we suppose that the ancients possessed secrets 
which have been lost in the course of time. We 
can always allow that they, by various experience, 
brought this operation to a certain perfection ; but 
the embalming was not only the custom of that 
country, but a precept of religion. It was not re- 
stricted simply to men, but they also sought to 
preserve certain animals after their death. This 
usage gives us occasion to acknowledge, with how 
careful an eye the ancients observed the processes 
in nature. They certainly were acquainted with 
the unfavorable influence which corrupting sub- 
stances exert on the human health, especially in the 
warm regions ; and to keep this scourge afar from 
the country, the priests who only were the learned 
at that time, might have declared, that the em- 
balming of the bodies was a precept of religion, 



8 

from no other motive than to make sure of its 
being carried out.* 

The wisdom of this regulation appeared, subse- 
quently, in respect to the plague, which has re- 
peatedly desolated Egypt. In ancient times, they 
knew nothing of it. Soon after the introduction of 
Christian burial, the plague made its appearance. 
Resting on the words of the Bible, " Dust thou art 
and unto dust shalt thou return," the first enthusi- 
astic propagators of Christianity, inquired little 
whether this custom was healthful, and demanded 
by the nature of the country; it was of heathen 
origin, and for this reason, must yield to the zeal of 
their faith. How greatly the general state of health 
of the country was thus injured, is evident to the 
traveler at every step. In the low grounds on the 
Nile, we can not dig even a few feet, without com- 
ing upon water ; the corpses, therefore, are buried 
close beneath the surface of the ground, so that the 
stench of corruption forcing its way therefrom, and 
tainting the air, serves as a scent to the wild dogs 
and other ravenous beasts that are prowling about, 
and that are enticed from a distance thither. To 
possess themselves of their prey, is not then difficult 
for them. 

But we always over-value the merit of antiquity e 

^ It is a well known fact, however, that the old Egyptians believed 
in the doctrine of the separate existence of the soul for some thou- 
sands of years after death, and hence, regarded it as of the utmost 
importance, that the body should be preserved with care for its re- 
union with the spirit. — Tr. 



9 

In this particular case, the nature of the country 
has been wholly disregarded ; attention has not 
been paid to the great heat and extraordinary dry- 
ness of the air. And precisely herein have they 
sought out the mysteries of the old Egyptian art. 
To these two causes, we owe the excellent pre- 
servation of the ancient architectural monuments. 
Even at the present day, in the great African des- 
erts, which, as well as the sea, requires its numerous 
sacrifices, we find mummies of men and animals 
that have been dried up solely by the glow of 
the sun, and the burning hot sand, and so have 
been long preserved in this state for centuries. If ? 
on the other hand, the ancients had practised their 
art on the banks of the Seine, or Thames, the 
Danube, or the Spree, we should have counted at 
the present day very few mummies in our mu- 
seums. 

After Thales, in the period of from 640 years 
before the birth of Christ, to the third century of 
the Christian Era, we find definite notices. Pliny, 
for example, mentions salts that dry up organic 
substances, and so are fitted to preserve them for 
centuries. For a long time previous, had the valu- 
able property of salt been known, and they knew 
how to derive advantage from its use. Among the 
Greeks, too, we find a word that signifies to salt 
and to embalm. The old authors indeed relate to 
us little as to the salting of flesh for preservation ; 
but they speak of a Latin proverb already in use, 
" Nil sole et sale utilius," " Nothing is more use- 



10 

fu] than the sun and salt." The details that have 
been communicated to us, relate mostly to the 
corpses of kings and of animals which were preserv- 
ed on account of their rareness. Thus, for example, 
Pharnaces sent to Pompey the body of Mithridates; 
but as to this, Plutarch says, that the face could not 
be recognized, because they had forgotten to remove 
the brains. The Indians sent to Constantine a 
large ape salted, and of the sow, which, as a happy 
omen to Eneas, brought forth thirty young, it is 
related, that in Varro's time, it was shown in 
Lavinium. But it is not the less certain, that they 
used the salt, the praise of which Homer sung, the 
various modes of the preparation of which were well 
known to the ancients, at that time, for salting 
flesh and fish for purposes of domestic economy. 

And hence, we are not of the opinion that they 
first preserved princes and martyrs, "and afterwards 
legs of mutton and hams," as has been supposed, 
in a journal report of the Paris Exhibition. It is 
indeed more natural that man should first care for 
his own preservation, for the necessity and susten- 
ance of his body; for he existed a long time before 
there were princes and martyrs. 

Pliny speaks expressly of other methods, that 
were used for the preservation of food. They 
coated various fruits with wax or rosin, or they put 
them in honey, as our housewives do in sugar, 
which was in use at that time only as a medicine. 
Grapes and similar fruits, they sought to preserve 
by inclosing them in earthern vases, which they 



11 

closed tight and buried some feet deep in the sand. 
Still further, they caused the substances which 
they wished to protect from corrupting, to be boiled 
in water, before they were shut up tight in the 
vases. Hence, we see that already, in ancient 
times, they were well acquainted with, and knew 
how to value the advantages of Apperrs method, 
which has first been brought into use in our day. 

All the methods of preservation, of which they 
made use in Antiquity, aimed at preventing, as 
much as possible, the entrance and influence of the 
atmospheric air. They hence knew, that there was 
something contained in the air, by which the cor- 
ruption of food might be hastened. Already, with 
Yitruvius, we find the important statement which 
has yet been pronounced heretical in our day, that 
matter does not perish, but only suffers changes, by 
which all that proceeds from the air returns thither 
again. They could not indeed give an accurate 
account of this thing, for to discover the connex- 
ion first belonged to science in modern times. As 
chemistry furnishes to the soldier his weapons of of- 
fence and defence, to the husbandman, his fertilizing 
manures, to the painter his colors, and, generally, 
seeks to supply all the wants of men, she has in 
the recent times, too, created for us simple and ap. 
propriate methods for the preservation of food. 
These are valuable, because many articles of food 
from the vegetable world, of which we would not 
willingly be destitute, are to be met with only in 
certain times of the year. Yet these are required 



12 

for victualing in war, especially for long journeys 
by sea and land, particularly in inhospitable regions. 
To provide the supply, it was necessary accu- 
rately to study out the means of sustenance which 
the animal and vegetable kingdoms afford. Every 
substance which we use for the nourishment of the 
body, contains a by no means insignificant number 
of the so-called proximate elements in one whole • 
and among these, precisely those combinations 
which we regard as the vehicles of nutriment, are 
very intricately compounded ; that is, a great 
number of atoms (particles) of simple or uncom- 
pounded bodies (elements) are here united in 
groups. The greater the number of particles com- 
bined in such a group, the more easily is such a 
substance exposed to corruption ; because the bond 
which embraces the single particles, is but loosely 
connected, so that there is a greater power of mo- 
tion to each part; which not only allows another 
grouping of the atoms into more simple combina- 
tions, but also causes a strong tendency thereto. 

The germ of corruption is consequently insep- 
arable from the chemical nature of food ; and pre- 
cisely those elements on which nutrition depends, 
constituting, as they do, the articles of food what 
they are, we have to regard as the causes of their 
little tenacity and easy spoiling. It may be said, that 
certain particles resist this disorganization, and that 
they yield to it only by force, and so afterwards 
endeavor to burst their fetters. But great as on 
the one side is the resistance and the inclination 



13 

for it, as little on the other side is the power; the 
feeble bond that embraces the single atoms, is fully 
sufficient to restrain them, and keep them in order. 
Of a voluntary decomposition of the intricately 
compounded combinations into a simpler one, such 
as is apparently the cause in putrefaction, there is 
therefore nothing to be said. There must be an 
assault from without in order to break asunder the 
connecting bond, and afford the individual atoms 
an easy power of motion. And this is given by 
the operation of the air, or rather of the oxygen 
contained therein. It is the greatest enemy of all 
existent bodies. It has indeed no power over life ; 
but as soon as this has flown, the animal and the 
plant fall away to its all-gnawing teeth. In itself 
alone, it is powerless. It needs confederates within 
and without. 

To the former belongs water, which is almost 
ever contained in great quantities in the collective 
means of nutriment. Raw flesh consists two-thirds 
of water, and not less is the quantity of water in 
vegetable substances of nutriment, especially in the 
roots and juicy fruits. Apples, for example, con- 
tain above 80, and pears at least 80 per cent, of 
water. The characteristic of water is mobility ; it 
is never at rest. Hence, it readily yields its aid to 
the outward enemy for the work of destruction, by 
which it is itself set free in order again to take part 
in the perpetual circulation, to which, like the ever- 
lasting Jew, it is by nature destined. 

Further, the oxygen of the air in its attacks on the 
2 



14 

animal and vegetable substances is sustained by a 
certain not too high temperature ; the limits here 
are pretty closely drawn, from one degree to some 
thirty or forty degrees (Centigrade) above the freezing 
point. All the three conditions must co-operate ; if 
one of them is wanting, the other two enemies are 
powerless. And hence all the methods we make use 
of for preserving food, aim at this object, to remove 
one of them from the combination. 

In some, and precisely the most important articles 
of food, of which men can not possess themselves 
on account of the great bulk, nature has herself un- 
dertaken the business; and thus she comes to the 
help of man. We allude here to grain and the pod- 
fruits ; here too, the substances exist in the richest 
abundance which may otherwise be regarded as thc» 
germs and vehicles of corruptibleness — gluten, albu- 
men, legumin, in a word, the nitrogenous elements, 
which alone re-supply to the body what labor, bodily 
and mental, has consumed. Water too, is not here 
wanting, but the quantity is so small, 9 to 20 per 
cent. — while in potatoes, it is 67-78 per cent — that 
it can not cause putrefaction. The husbandman, 
therefore, has nothing further to do than to protect 
grain from moisture, keep from it insects, mice and 
rats, and provide a sufficient change of air. 

We see the same in the potato, and notwith- 
standing its large proportion of water, in fruit. 
For their preservation, we need no great expendi- 
ture of means ; a cellar is sufficient to keep them 
for months, not because the temperature is too low 



15 

to induce putrefaction ; it is only delayed, but not 
really prevented. We do not protect the potato 
but it protects itself, for the life, — germinating 
power — still exists in it ; we have a sound potato, 
and though severed from the plant, yet it is to be re- 
garded as a part of a living plant. If its life dies, 
then also the protection of the cellar ceases, a death 
of the potato, whether effected by frost, mechanical 
injury or by secret causes of the potato-disease, un- 
avoidably draws after it putrefaction. That in the 
case in question, we have to seek for the true cause 
of the preservation, flesh also shows us. We can 
preserve it only a few days from corrupting, in the 
same cellar in which we preserve potatoes for 
months without damage, if we neglect other pre- 
cautions and place our hopes on the low tempera- 
ature of the cellar only, on which indeed, the heat 
of the sun exerts no influence. In flesh, the life is 
wholly extinct, and for this reason in a short time 
it becomes a prey to the all-destroying air; and the 
sooner, the warmer the temperature is, and the more 
the air is filled with moisture. The nitrogenous 
elements are changed by the influence of the oxy- 
gen, and soon a foul smell indicates the advance of 
putrefaction. Then various flies lay their eggs or 
larvee in the flesh, and in a short time it serves as 
food for the worms. 

The means of protection which we must use, to 
keep off putrefaction, are also of a very simple de- 
scription. They consist in our either lowering the 
temperature to the freezing point, removing the 



16 

moisture, or preventing the access of the air. But 
these doctrines we owe first to modern times; and 
yet a certain instinct in men ever since the primi- 
tive ages, has caused them to find out the correct 
ones, though often indeed by round about ways. 
We will first, therefore, consider these older methods. 

In general, they are restricted to the preservation 
of the flesh. In the case of vegetables, they are 
used only in a slight degree, although they are here 
first in place. They formerly contented themselves 
for the winter with potatoes, other grown roots and 
pod-fruits; of the preservation of green, or pot- 
herbs, they thought little. Only cucumbers and 
sour crout, as well as some fruits, constituted an 
exception ; but which we have to regard less as 
articles of food than as luxuries. 

The chief means which have been found in use 
from ancient times to the present day, are confined 
to salting and smoking. We must not believe that 
in the former case, salt directly keeps off putrefac- 
tion. The cause is a wholly different one. Salt- 
ing is nothing else than a species of drying. The 
water has a greater affinity for common salt than 
for flesh, therefore it is stronger attracted by the 
former than it is retained by the latter. From one- 
third to one-half at least of the water, is drawn out 
of the flesh ; the quantity which remains is too 
small to aid in inducing putrefaction. That this 
is the reason of the preservation, will be readily 
admitted, when it is known that in salting flesh, 
juicy flesh that is full of water, can be strewed over 



17 

with dry salt, without adding the least quantity of 
water, and yet in a short time the flesh may be 
found covered entirely over with a fluid brine. For 
this cause also, flesh may very easily spoil, if enough 
salt is not used, though the water is not only re- 
moved from the flesh, by direct attraction, but also 
because that the muscular fibre of which likewise 
the flesh consists, is contracted, and therefore the 
water is in fact, pressed out. 

The universal diffusion and the great approval 
which this method yet enjoys in our households, 
ought not, necessarily, to lead us to the belief that 
if is an excellent one. By means of the salt, not 
only water is drawn out from the flesh, but with it 
also, everything which is dissolved in it ; important 
elements for human bodies, not only inorganic, as 
especially potash and phosphoric acid, but also or- 
ganic, as lactic acid, creatin, creatinin, and espe- 
cially considerable quantities of albumen, which is 
important for nutrition. They are all lost, as the 
brine can not be used again. And this is the more 
to be regretted, for with much justice, they may be 
compared to a concentrated broth. Salted flesh, 
hence possesses a considerably less value for nutri- 
tion than flesh that is boiled, for there remains at 
least, in a great degree, the albumen, in this case, 
as it coagulates by the heat, and thus becomes in- 
soluble and does not pass off in the strongest broths. 
Flesh is, therefore, far more exhausted by salting 
than by boiling. Much more injurious yet is the cir- 
2* 



18 

cumstance, that not only the general nutritious 
value is lessened, but that by the removal of the 
above mentioned valuable substances, the equilib- 
rium of the capacity of nutrition is destroyed. 

It may be objected to me, that in the use of salted 
flesh for centuries, good health has been enjoyed ; 
but it is not so. Where, indeed, salted flesh now 
and then comes upon the table, we may not be 
aware of injury; the substances necessary for the 
preservation of the body which are wanting, are un- 
consciously compensated for by other means of 
nutriment, as there is an alternation and variety 
in our articles of food. But it is different, where 
salted flesh is the principal means of nutriment, as 
in the case of sailors, and soldiers in the time of 
war. Here the defectiveness of the nourishment 
shows itself most decisively. Who has not heard 
of the scurvy, a painfully hereditary disease of those 
classes? This disease has its origin in a defective 
condition of the fluids in the human body, and this 
again is caused by partialness of nutrition, in con- 
sequence of the continued use of salted flesh. Dis- 
tressing pains in all parts of the frame, blue spots 
in different portions of the body, stinking gums, and 
swollen limbs are the characteristics of this fearful 
disease, which does not easily give up its victim 
once seized by it, and whose health is shattered for 
his whole life ; while it ever returns in multiplied 
and changing forms, as hypochondria, rheumatism, 
dangerous colic, unless a man constantly observes 
the strictest regimen, great moderation in all things, 



19 

and carefulness and cleanliness in clothing and food. 
In a certain degree, nature herself modifies the un- 
adaptedness of salted flesh for nourishment. Salt 
is hardly ever met with perfectly pure ; it always 
contains lime and magnesia. These, with the 
phosphoric acid, which the salt has drawn out of 
the flesh, form with the water, insoluble combina- 
tions. Thus, at least, there is preserved to the 
human body, this most important element for 
the continued renewing of the bones, even in men 
already grown up. The white coating which we 
always perceive on salted meat, is nothing but 
those combinations, which just because they are 
insoluble, are deposited again on the flesh. If we 
had perfectly pure salt at our command, the disad- 
vantages mentioned would be far more evident. 
But to this lucky circumstance, as it is called, man's 
good sense can lay no claim. 

Just as in respect to many an old by-word which 
men have regarded for centuries as true, mod- 
ern times has in a certain degree broke to shivers, 
too the old Roman proverb, " Nothing is more use- 
ful than the sun and salt." The common use of 
salt in the preservation of flesh up to a short time 
since, if not as the only method, yet by far the most 
universally diffused, is now in a measure, fallen 
into discredit. We now know that salted flesh 
also, even as potatoes, when the only means of nour- 
ishment, is attended by a curse. Precisely where 
it was formerly regarded as indispensable, in the 
fleet and for the victualing of fortresses, &c, it is 



20 

wholly set aside in the most recent times, on account 
of the health of the crew and the army — an indica- 
tion for housewives to follow this example. 

In France, too, where recently considerable im- 
portations of salted meat have arrived from Ameri- 
ca, they have very soon acknowledged the injury 
which resulted from the too free use of it to the 
consumer. The people have already, therefore, for 
this reason, and not at all from prejudice, renounced 
the American salted meat. It would hence be 
advantageous if those who are engaged in con- 
ducting the trade in this meat, else important for 
Europe, would turn their thoughts to another 
method of preservation than salting. This we 
doubt not will be the case as soon as the salted 
meat no where finds a market. 

Salt has likewise served for preserving for a longer 
time, a few important vegetable means of nour- 
ishment, especially sour-crout and cucumbers. Yet 
we notice here another appearance; the brine be- 
comes decidedly acid. The nitrogenous combina- 
tions contained in the above mentioned vegetable 
parts, act on other substances which in accordance 
with their composition are converted into sugar, 
in consequence of which a similar process takes 
place as in the souring of milk, a kind of fermenta- 
tion, that is called lactic-acid fermentation, because 
there is formed in it a considerable quantity of lac- 
tic acid, which is here accompanied also by acid of 
butter. 

The means too, in use by our housewives, par- 



21 

ticularly for the preserving of fruit, as sugar, ar- 
dent spirits and vinegar, operate also, the same as 
salt. Here likewise, the water is partially removed, 
or rather held in such a way as to forbid further 
injury by fermentation or decomposition of the veg- 
etables. There is moreover, need of the greatest 
precaution, if we wish certainly to keep them from 
spoiling. We must not be sparing either of sugar 
or vinegar. Usually, the sugar is dissolved in the 
juice of the fruit, and the solution of the sugar 
must have the consistence of a pretty thick syrup, 
for the sugar by itself is very much inclined, in 
weaker solutions, to pass over into fermentation, 
which is then too, communicated to the fruit. If 
we fill the preserved articles warm into the jars, 
the few drops of water which condensed on the inside 
by means of the rising vapor, and by running down, 
dilute the upper portion of the syrup, are often suffi- 
cient to cause them to spoil. The same is the case 
with vinegar which is commonly to be had in the 
market only in a diluted state. Housekeepers 
know only too well, how often cucumbers and fruits 
preserved in vinegar, turn and wholly spoil, This 
is less easy if the vinegar first poured in, is after a 
while removed, and with it at the same time also, 
a large quantity of water, (some 80 or 90 percent.,) 
which is contained in the cucumbers, and then new 
vinegar poured in, which now will be no longer 
essentially diluted. 

The careful housekeeper in these various mat- 
ters, seeks to increase the preserving power yet 



22 

more by means of spices, which by themselves, fur- 
nish an effectual protection against putrefaction. 
This power the spices owe to the proportion of 
ethereal oils of different composition, which in 
themselves act against putrefaction, and indeed 
with such power, that a very small quantity is suffi- 
cient to preserve large masses of substances that are 
easily decomposed. The spices are also fitted to 
bring to a stand an already-begun fermentation and 
decomposition. On this account too, with their 
help, the articles of food which have already suf- 
fered a begun decomposition, are eaten with less 
danger than when this precaution has been neg- 
lected. But as to what this almost marvelous 
power of preservation owes its origin, science has as 
yet furnished us with no satisfactory reason. We 
must, therefore, for the present, be contented with 
the facts. 

In smoking food, it is not only the drying that is 
here often carried much too far, by which the flesh 
resists putrefaction and may be preserved for a long 
time. In the smoke which rises from the hearth there 
is contained a greater or less portion of a volatile 
substance which has a biting burning taste, and a 
pungent disagreeable smell. It is the creosote, one 
of the most powerful antiseptic (that which resists 
putrefaction) substances. It has the property of 
coagulating albumen, and thus making it insolu- 
ble. By this process the flesh is armed against the 
attacks of the oxygen, and animal substances, ren- 
dered insoluble, with great difficulty pass into 



23 

putrefaction. Smoking, on this account, deserves 
the preference to salting, because in it no elements 
important for nutrition are lost; only the nutritious 
value of the smoked flesh is somewhat diminished, 
as the coagulated albumen and the very often too 
much dried up muscular fibre are of less easy diges- 
tion than fresh meat. 

In the creosote that is manufactured from tar, 
and in the pyroligneous acid that drips off in the 
carbonizing, or convertingof wood into coal, we have 
the means of effecting a so-called smoking of flesh 
in a moist way. The pyroligneous acid contains 
a small quantity of creosote, but more than a solu- 
tion of the same in water that takes up only 1J 
per cent, of it. By these two means, we can in a 
much shorter time produce the same change of the 
flesh than by smoking it for a longer period. It is 
enough to dip the flesh several times in the two 
above mentioned liquids, or brush them over with 
it. The flesh then gradually dries up and takes the 
appearance and the taste of smoked meat. It thus 
becomes so well preserved, that it suffers no inju- 
rious change even in the greatest heat of summer. 
According to Stenhouse, we may secure these effects 
by placing the flesh in a closed box, and placing 
with it a few drops of creosote in a small bottle. 
On account of the great volatility of the creosote, the 
atmosphere is filled with the vapor of creosote, and 
this then protects the flesh from spoiling. 

The quantity of creosote sufficient, in all these 
cases, for the effect, is a very small one. This cir- 



24 

cumstance is but rarely adverted to in smoking by 
the moist method, and for this reason, there is often 
too much of a good thing. Hence have arisen 
many complaints, that meat prepared in this way 
has a most disagreeable taste ; that thus one spoils 
the best hams and sausages. On this account, 
Jager, after successful experiments, recommends 
another process. For sausages, bacon and hams 
of a swine weighing 120 lbs., he takes 1 lb. of 
shining lamp-black or soot, of a clear wood fire, 
such as falls in the lower parts of any chimney, con- 
taining no coal fire, because, in the preparation 
of coal, all the volatile products of decomposition 
have already escaped. Boil the soot in eight quarts 
of water down to four quarts, and add to the 
strained liquid, two or three handfulls of salt. In 
this solution, place small sausages for one-quarter 
of an hour, large ones for half an hour, and such as 
are made of the maw (hoggess) and brain-sausages, 
three-quarters of an hour to one hour ; bacon ac- 
cording to the size, six to eight, and hams, twelve 
to sixteen hours. But they must first all have been 
somewhat dried in an airy place, and this must also 
be done again after taking them out. The taste 
of meats treated in this way, is far more agreeable 
than according to the usual smoking by wood. 

Science ought not to stop at the proof that the 
methods of preserving food used in domestic econ- 
omy, accomplish this object unsatisfactorily, inas- 
much as the capacity of nutrition and the ease of 
digestion is lessened. It is far more serviceable to 



25 

build up than to tear down. To replace the old 
and unsatisfactory modes by new and better modes, 
comprehensive investigations must be made as to 
the character of the changes which the organic 
substances undergo as soon as they come in con- 
tact with the air. The researches of Gay Lussac, 
especially, were of the most beneficial results for life. 
He found, particularly, that by means of boiling 
heat, the organic substances were preserved from 
every change ; at the temperature of boiling water, 
the nitrogenous substances lose their capacity of 
calling forth putrefaction or a change of atoms in 
vegetable or animal matter ; while these sub- 
stances themselves suffer a change, such as we may 
best see in the albumen that coagulates by the heat. 
A similar process takes place in the so-called ex- 
citers of fermentation or putrefaction, all of which 
are compounds corresponding to albumen. 

Of the permanent effect of boiling heat, house- 
keepers have already long before been aware. By 
boiling, milk is guarded from becoming spoiled, — 
or coagulating in consequence of the existing lactic 
acid, — but its souring is thereby only kept off for a 
short time, as the effect of the oxygen of the air is 
not excluded. If we continually repeat the boiling 
at the proper time, the milk may be preserved for 
any period we wish from spoiling. But the use of 
this means is too dependent on circumstances, and 
hence can not be applied to use. 

The temperature of boiling water protects food 
from spoiling only when the operation of the air is 
3 



26 

permanently removed, as is done in the so- 
called Appert's method. This method, already 
proposed in the year 1803, by the Frenchman 
Appert, deserves our admiration for its great sim- 
plicity and efficacy ; we may justly term it the 
most rational, simple, cheapest, and surest. An 
advantage which can never enough be valued is 
this, that the means of nutrition which are preserved 
in this way, lose nothing of their nutritiousness 
and taste. The permanence of preservation is al- 
most unlimited, if defects are not allowed to occur 
in the operation itself. Thus, for example, Captain 
(now Sir) John Ross, the well known Arctic voy- 
ager, presented to the Society for the Encourage- 
ment of Arts, (in Paris,) meat that, treated accord- 
ing to Appert's method, had been perfectly pre- 
served for sixteen years. 

The North Polar Expeditions especially placed 
the excellences of this method in the proper light, 
and after a long struggle, gained for it victory and 
acknowledgment. These voyages, by which the 
crews of the ships were wholly cut off for years 
from the civilized world, would have been nearly 
impossible without the Appert method of preserv- 
ing food ; for the almost exclusive use of salted 
meat would have undermined the health of the 
men, and made them at last incapable of enduring 
their nameless fatigues and hardships. Though 
the Arctic and Polar Zone, in general, is stamped 
with the character of the greatest poverty, yet we 
must not believe that it is wholly destitute of ani- 



27 

mal life. In these sorrowful regions the activity of 
nature has not wholly died out, for even the highest 
latitude of the Polar climes form no region of eternal 
snow, and no where, so far as man has penetrated, 
does the line of eternal snow sink to the level of 
the sea. Though the mean temperature of the 
year, descends even far below the freezing point, 
yet there are also days in which the heat is burden- 
some. The few weeks in which the sun bursts 
the firm fetters of the soil, are sufficient to call forth 
a vegetation which, by its variety of the most beau- 
tiful forms and colors, may delight the eye of the 
bold voyager, long blinded by the masses of snow 
lying all around him. At this time, it is easy to 
obtain fresh meat, because then those remote coasts 
become a place of exercise for numerous animals. 
But with the very short summer, also, these disap- 
pear, and hence, it is useless for the voyager, to be 
exempted by the winter in those regions from all 
care for the preservation of food. 

Appert's method was reduced to practice by the 
English, and became a true benefit for mankind. 
It was not enough for them thus to preserve raw 
flesh from spoiling ; but they prepared it, and also 
green herbs, -in the same mariner as when they 
were to be eaten. In this way, it is possible that 
in every region and every time of the year, for 
every one who is only in somewhat easy circum- 
stances, to have at command the most unusual 
and rarest dishes, prepared according to the best 
receipts of cookery, the procuring of which would 



28 

otherwise be impossible, or effected but for large 
sums of money. 

The Appert method for the preservation of food, 
depends on the fact that the energetic effect of the 
oxygen of the air is not wholly prevented, but more 
correctly, as it may be said, merely arrested. A 
perfect exclusion of the atmospheric air is indeed 
impossible; and especially, in certain circumstances, 
a single air-bubble is sufficient to set large masses 
of food into fermentation. By a sensible plan, 
Appert has known how to conquer this greatest 
difficulty. For this purpose, he fills the food into 
tin boxes, as close up to the edge as possible, with 
the precaution that, as far as may be, all air shall 
be removed from the space occupied by the food. 
He then lays on the box a cover, which is carefully 
soldered. Instead of tin boxes, we can use glass 
bottles, which may be hermetically sealed, i. e., 
made air-tight by means of a cork. 

But in spite of all precautions, we can not 
wholly remove the air from the vessels ; and yet 
it is absolutely necessary, if we would perfectly 
secure the contents from spoiling. It was there- 
fore an object to render it free from this hazard, 
and the result was attained by placing a great 
number of boxes and bottles in a kettle filled with 
water. The water is then brought gradually up to 
100 degrees, Centigrade, i. e., to boiling point, and 
the boiling is allowed to continue according to the 
size of the bottles, a half an hour or an hour; and 
thus there is opportunity to observe, at the same 



29 

time, whether the closing of the boxes and bottles is 
thick enough. If there be only a single spot not thick 
enough, it is seen, that in this the air which is ex- 
hausted by the heat, rises in a little bubble through 
the water. The defective places must then be 
thickened by a new soldering or the cork replaced 
by one that closes tight. 

The free oxygen which is contained in the small 
quantity of the inclosed air, is by this operation ren- 
dered innoxious forever ; while under the effect of 
the heat it combines with the organic matter and 
becomes wholly converted into carbonic acid. This 
process is likewise, as it were, an oxydation, just as 
putrefaction ; but precisely by this change all power 
is taken away from the oxygen of acting further 
on the organic matter. 

This mode of the preservation of food, has for 
years been an object of manufacturing industry in 
England, France and Holland, as well as among 
other nations which possess a navy of some import- 
ance. But the use of these articles of food is in ail 
of them nearly limited to the victualing of ships, 
and notwithstanding all its advantages and agreea- 
ble features, it has found but little entrance into 
households. The reason of it is, that in their man- 
agement the tin boxes have great inconveniences. 
Particularly the soldering and unsoldering of the 
cover is very troublesome. For households, the 
cost of the tin boxes is of importance only at the 
outset, a continued use, which the solidity of the 



30 

material allows for a long time, thus renders the 
expense of little consequence.* 

In the preparation by manufacture, they fill in the 
food boiling, the pieces of flesh first, which are 
separated from the liquid. Then the cover is sol- 
dered on, and in the middle is a hole into which 
the liquid portion is poured by means of a tunnel. 
Then a little plate of tin is also soldered over 
the hole. In this way it is easy to fill the vessel 
almost entirely, and thus to reduce the inclosed air 
to a minimum. 

By a small oversight in this operation, it may 
happen, that the effect of the oxygen will not be 
arrested, and thus the door be left open for spoiling. 
This is the more vexatious, as the preservation in 
tin. boxes prevents any further observation, and 
therefore any further advance till the time when the 
food is to be used, and then, generally, the help 
comes too late. For this reason, an improvement, 
which Fastier introduced, is of great importance. 
He added to the water in which the boxes are ex- 
posed to a temperature of 100 degrees Centigrade, 
a sufficient quantity of common salt, by which 
means the advantage is secured of bringing the food 
in the box itself to boil, as the solution of salt boils 
at 110 degrees Centigrade. To the vapor thus ex- 
tricated, is left a narrow passage out, and thus, at 

* This defect as to soldering, is remedied by different kinds of 
screw and other tight covers, which hare been adopted in this country 
for boxes used for keeping fruit, &c, though I am not aware that 
they have been applied to the preservation of meat. — Tr. 



31 

the same time, the air is almost entirely driven out. 
Then, in order that the vessel may be as full as 
possible, some of the liquid is filled in, and now the 
opening is closed by soldering. In this way, they 
make sure that the slight traces of the free oxygen 
may be more certainly held bound by the organic 
matter, and so rendered harmless. 

The preservation of eggs and butter depends 
likewise, on endeavoring to effect the entire exclu- 
sion of the operation of the air. But the ways in 
which this is reached are various. In eggs which 
are destined for preservation, it is a matter of prime 
importance, that they should be fresh, and as per- 
fect as possible. Some say, that eggs which are 
not impregnated, may be preserved better than 
those that are so. To prevent the entrance of the 
air through the shell, various means have been ap- 
plied. The shell is coated with grease, gummy 
glue, or varnish, and thus it is made impervious. 
A solution of lime, of the proper consistency, no 
doubt affords the same service. 

The following means which is of more fre- 
quent use is cheaper. The egg is merged as fresh 
as possible into water that is saturated with 
lime, and preserved under it in a cool place. For 
different reasons there can not here be any spoiling. 
The water at once enters through the shell, so that 
the egg is entirely filled, and then the lime has 
a power of preserving it from putrefaction. To 
this means another is perfectly analogous. The 
eggs are laid in water in which ten per cent, of salt 



32 

has been dissolved. After some hours the eggs 
may be taken out and dried in the air. 

Generally, attempts are made to preserve butter 
just as flesh, by means of salt. But thus, the agree- 
able sweet flavor is destroyed, by which fresh made 
butter is distinguished. In Scotland, therefore, 
with the salt there is mixed one-third or a fourth of 
its weight of sugar, in order better to retain the 
agreeable taste of fresh butter. We can thus keep 
fresh butter for the period of from eight to twelve 
days, if it be solidly packed into little tubs and the 
surface covered with water an inch above, which 
has been first boiled and then cooled down again. 
But the water must be renewed every day. Ac- 
cording to Breon, considerably more favorable results 
are obtained if the water is first slightly acidified. 
For a quart of water, take 56.4 grains of sulphate 
of potash or acetic acid. If the butter is to be 
sent away, place it in a tin cylinder, the opening of 
which is soldered up. For common purposes, 
make use of vessels of glass or earthen, the open- 
ings of which are well closed. In this way butter 
may be kept for two months entirely fresh at a tem- 
perature of from fifteen to twenty degrees, Centi- 
grade, (about 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.) 

Notwithstanding all its excellence, yet Appert's 
method does not generally well allow of an applica- 
tion to green herbs or vegetable food. The hindran- 
ces in the way are two-fold — space and weight. At 
every dinner we consume only a small portion of 
meat to larger quantities of this green food, whence 



33 

we must draw the conclusion, that the latter are 
less nutritious than the former. From this circum- 
stance, the transportation of such greens preserved 
after Appert's method, is difficult, since a very great 
quantity of water contained in all vegetable means 
of nutrition, must be dragged about with us almost 
without any use. Water is, indeed, indispensable 
for all human bodies, but nature lavishes it in such 
fulness that we can add it to our food almost at any 
place and time. For this reason, in the preserva- 
tion of vegetable means of nutriment, the Appert's 
method is now rarely used, since which another 
principle, but only for a few years past, has broken 
out for itself a pathway. This is the removal of the 
water — the drying of the greens. 

This principle too, is so simple we may justly 
wonder why it has not long ago been brought into 
use. A cause for it, indeed, was not wanting, 
as for centuries already, many plants have been 
preserved in a dried state, without their being 
spoiled, a single precaution only being used. We 
may mention here tobacco, grass, (hay,) medi- 
cinal plants, Chinese tea, the shriveled leaves of 
which by means of hot water, perfectly recover their 
original form. This principle too, has long been in 
use in our households, in the case of vegetable 
means of nutriment ; in a limited degree it is true, but 
almost entirely with the so-called « Russian peas," 
which are early shelled and then simply dried. It 
was therefore very natural to go a step further and 
raise the particular application into a general one. 



Our housekeepers possess yet a multiplicity of re- 
ceipts for preserving plants and fruits of all kinds, 
for future use, but they are too modest to speak 
much of their art. 

Ever since the fifteenth century, the preservation 
of the vegetable means of nutrition in this way, has 
been alluded to by men of reflection. In the last 
century, repeated trials were made to introduce the 
drying of greens in England, Italy and Sweden; 
but the success was by no means favorable. They 
did not use the requisite care, so that the greens 
suffered a change in their taste. Besides, their 
smell was much like that of hay ; the nutritious prop- 
erties suffered a diminution, because the vegetable 
albumen coagulated in the too great heat. In addi- 
tion to this, the volume of dried plants, was always 
a very large one. This prevented the preservation 
and transportation ; but another circumstance of 
still greater weight was, that these greens in con- 
sequence of the too large surface they offered to the 
effect of the air and light, were exposed to many 
changes, causing them to spoil very easily. 

All these difficulties a French gardener has hap- 
pily overcome. In France, they understand admi- 
rably how to give to apparently trivial things, great 
importance. Thus, then, in the short space of a 
few years, the drying of greens has already grown 
up to a respectable branch of industry. After the 
greens have been carefully selected and trimmed, 
they put them on a hurdle of coarse linen cloth 
which is set up in a chamber. This latter is warmed 



35 

by means of hot air which circulates in pipes ac- 
cording to the condition of the greens at 35 deg. or 
45 deg. Centigrade. In this slight heat the water 
evaporates from the plants only very gradually ; this 
is absolutely necessary, for otherwise the greens lose 
their taste and color. But for the now following 
operation, pressing, a gradual drying out is very 
essential, in order that parts of the plants may not 
lose their capacity of again recovering their original 
form when afterwards soaked in water. 

By a powerfully working hydraulic press, the vol- 
ume of dried greens is lessened four-fifths, and thus 
the problem of the preservation of vegetable means 
of nutriment is most completely solved. For the re- 
ception of the greens, there are at the end of the 
mounting beam of the press, strong iron boxes in 
which after the greens have been laid therein, they 
are pressed by a strong and closely fitting pounder. 
By the drying out, one hundred weight of the 
greens is reduced to from nine to fifteen. Thus, for 
instance, a cabbage head of very great size, may be 
brought singly into a letter envelope ; but when it 
is again moistened and prepared, it becomes of 
»uch extent as to fill a large bushel. The present 
greens have the form and thickness of a cake of 
chocolate, and like these cakes, they are wrapped 
singly in a paper or in tin foil, and then several of 
them packed up in boxes of zinc or sheet iron. 
The only precaution which must be used in pack- 
ing, is to keep off the moisture ; then they may be pre- 



36 

served for any length of time, without their losing 
the least portion of their relish. Such a cake of 
greens of 7£ inches square and 6^- to 7£ lines thick, 
weigh about 1 lb., and contains in it 20 portions. 
A box of 32 cubic feet, the sides and height of 
which are 3.18 feet, contains 25,000 portions, yet 
any one of them does not weigh If loth, (f of an 
oz.,) while it corresponds to eight times that weight 
of fresh greens. 

Potatoes may be preserved in this way and ren- 
dered easy of transportation. They are carefully 
washed and pealed, then cut into thin slices, and 
then dipped for a single moment in boiling water. 
After drying, they are put under the press, but 
when they have been first exposed for a short time 
to the moist air, in order that they may become 
somewhat moistened. Peas and beans are like- 
wise dipped for a minute in boiling water before 
drying, and after drying, preserved un pressed in air- 
tight boxes. But the hot water must not operate 
for too long a time; as otherwise the grains of amy- 
lum contained in these fruits and bulbs, swell up and 
pass over into paste, and the vegetable albumen like- 
wise becomes coagulated. Both processes would 
impart to these parts of plants after drying and press- 
ing, such a firm consistency, that the water would 
not penetrate in boiling. How long so ever a time 
might be used in boiling, the dish would not be 
made. 

If we desire to use the dried greens in domestic 
economy, they must be allowed to take up again 



37 

the water which they have lost in drying. Cold 
water is therefore poured over them, and they are 
left to stand in it six or ten hours ; if we should 
take warm water, it would lessen the time to four 
or six hours. By the reception of water, the greens 
expand, take their original form and color, and the 
smell peculiar to them is very perceptibly developed. 
In short, the greens are in all respects like fresh 
greens. But this operation is of great importance, 
and the utmost care is to be taken that the water- 
ing be continued long enough, if we wish to be 
certain to secure a good tasting dish. In this prep- 
aration there is nothing further, in particular, to 
observe ; the process is conducted as commonly. 

The Paris Academy of Science took a deep in- 
terest in the subject. They appointed a committee 
over which Morin presided, to institute decisive 
experiments on two kinds of greens, Wirsing cab- 
bage and spinage. A second committee too, 
examined the pressed greens in every respect in the 
most careful manner. White cabbage, red cab- 
bage, curled cabbage, celery, spinage, rocket, car- 
rots and potatoes, were examined by them. Ac- 
cording to the judgment of the two committees, the 
greens moistened again could not positively be dis- 
tinguished from fresh. After the greens to be ex- 
amined had been eaten in a cheerful dinner, both 
officers of the committees gave their judgment that 
all the dishes, without exception, were] well tast- 
ing; and especially, they paid the highest praise to 
the spinage and cabbage. These were of a fine 
4 



38 

relish, and tasted so much like greens just freshly 
plucked from the stalk, that any one might be deceiv- 
ed by them. At the London exhibition, Masson ob- 
tained the great medal; and the French Academy of 
Sciences likewise felt it proper to bestow upon him 
a premium of 2,000 francs from the Monthyon fund 
for useful inventions. 

The success which Masson had obtained in a 
ehort time, stimulated others also, to strike into 
this new path and follow it out further. Among 
those who occupied themselves further in the solu- 
tion of the problem, we may especially mention 
Gannal. He had already acquired a name by a 
method of embalming corpses. Afterwards, he 
employed himself in preserving meat, and soon he 
succeeded in so perfectly preserving plants that are 
the most difficult to dry, and which had already 
almost led others to despair of being effected, that 
the French Academy, after they had taken different 
specimens under examination, could not help fully 
recommending this method, especially to the Min- 
ister of Marine ; as there was much probability that 
the greens dried after Gannal's method, would 
afford the greatest service in the victualing of the 
fleet and army. 

In the experiments which have been made at Brest 
at the instance of the Marine Board, and in the 
United States, by direction of the Secretary of the 
Navy, with the greens, which were dried according 
to Masson's and Gannal's methods, it appears that in 
certain greens, one method is to be preferred to the 



39 

other. In the use of one or the other method, we 
must take into consideration the nature of the plants. 
It is acknowledged that the greens, by GannaPs 
method, in general, have truly preserved all the 
essential characteristics — form, color and taste — 
and that from this reason, they would unquestiona- 
bly secure the greatest favor with sailors, as in cook- 
ing they require less time, less water, and conse- 
quently also, less fuel. Nevertheless it was felt to 
be necessary to assign the first rank to some of 
Masson's greens, especially the cabbage. Every 
thing has two sides, and so it is here. Each of the 
two methods has its advantages and its disadvan- 
tages, so that they may both exist very well to- 
gether. The most essential difference of the greens 
of GannaPs method, consists in preserving all their 
characteristics faithfully, while those of Masson, 
by being pressed together into cakes, are all rendered 
more or less undistinguishable to the eye when they 
again have received the requisite quantity of water. 
And this is indeed, the excellence of GannaPs mode; 
the outward appearance is firmer, and the flavor is 
better preserved, while the advantage of the other 
method consists in the greens occupying less space, 
and in consequence, they are more easily transported. 
For use in the masses, in the victualing of fleets 
and the armies, this is of great importance. 

GannaPs method has already become an object 
of manufacturing industry in France. Though it 
has nothing at all in common with his earlier busi- 
ness — the embalming of corpes — yet he feared that 



40 

he might thereby be out of favor in the eyes of the 
people, and prejudice would be turned against his 
enterprise. He caused, therefore, his ideas to be 
carried by others ; the manufactory bears the name 
of the firm, Morel, Fatio & Co. The latter, after 
Gannal's death, remain sole proprietors of this 
method. 

The great importance of the dried greens is so 
evident, and the approbation which they have at- 
tained in so short a time, is of such a description, 
that it is scarcely necessary to spend a word about 
it. But the subject is new, and novelty always has 
a great number of opposers, who from principle,' 
close their eyes in order that they may not see what 
is good. 

The advantages are, for the most part, evident in 
the provision of the crews of fleets and armies, and 
in relation to this, we can justly call the dried 
greens a benefit to the human race. The import- 
ance of greens for nutriment is sufficiently confes- 
sed. From pure instinct, as it were, man ever since 
his first existence the world over, has in his food 
combined green vegetables with meats, long before 
chemistry taught that each are supplements one of 
the other, and absolutely requisite to an appropriate 
nutriment; not only because that by the greens 
there is a beneficial alternation in our food, but the 
digestion of meat is thus rendered easier, and it 
becomes generally more adapted for nutriment, 
while by the greens a correct proportion is first 
restored of what we need for our nutrition. Not 



41 

by eating flesh only, or by the exclusive consump- 
tion of green vegetables shall we be in health, but 
only when both stand in a just proportion to each 
other. By themselves, only the greens offer to the 
body but a small substitute for what it constantly 
uses in its daily change ; often the whole solid mass 
of the plants scarcely consist of a tenth part of its 
weight, the rest is water. But yet they are very 
important for nutrition, because they cause the 
blood to flow more freely in our veins. 

The useful effect of dried greens has been exhib- 
ited, especially on ship-board ; they have here ex- 
erted a very favorable influence on the health of 
the crew. Ever since they have found entrance in 
the English, American, French and Russian navies, 
the scurvy has ceased to decimate the crews. This 
use of the dried greens wall ever continue to be the 
most important, for in this respect they suffice to 
meet all demands. But also for the usual house- 
hold economy, they offer many advantages, so far as 
they are introduced only with moderate claims, and 
in case we always keep in view what can be attained. 
They should in no wise be made wholly to replace 
fresh greens; this they are not adapted to do. 
Excellent as are the dried greens, yet in many 
cases we always give fresh ones the preference, and 
have in a variety of ways to set aside the former. 
They are only substitutes for fresh ones that, at 
certain times and places, we can not procure at all, 
or at the greatest cost. For dried greens nothing 
further is claimed ; they will remove from us only the 

4* 



42 

restricted bounds which our purse or the unfavorable 
local relations in which we live impose, and in this 
respect, they prove themselves of value and deserv- 
ing approbation. This only is the destination 
which the inventor and manufacturers have given 
to the dried greens. 

More than nine government approvals, and the 
seven gold medals, which this invention has already 
received, bear testimony as regards their usefulness 
to the universal approbation and diffusion which they 
have found in the short space of six years in France. 
Every grocer here has a large quantity of the dried 
greens, of which, especially the rocket, (julienne,) 
a very fine-tasting soup vegetable,— a mixture of all 
sorts of greens and herbs, a true " hodge podge," — 
enjoys a high approval. In England, too, the dried 
greens have found great circulation on the occasion 
of the London Exhibition. Of Germany, we can 
not say the same, though already in Frankfort-on- 
the- Maine, the region around which is "world-re- 
nowned" for its garden culture, — a manufactory of 
the kind exists, which likewise does a good busi- 
ness. Its products, however, appear yet to be quite 
unknown to the German housekeepers. From our 
own experience, we can highly recommend the 
occasional use of dried greens ; and we are con- 
vinced, that by doing so we deserve the thanks of 
housekeepers, for there are times when they are in 
great perplexity as to what they can cook. 

But we will not omit to call attention to the fact, 
that in dried greens it is particularly important to 



43 

attend to their preparation. On this it essen- 
tially depends whether our recommendation find 
favor or disfavor in the eyes of the women. The 
dried and pressed greens may be more rapidly 
spoiled in cooking than the fresh ; and their value 
very easily be wholly destroyed. All depends on 
the care that is given to developing anew the greens 
by soaking; then the dried demand a longer and not 
too rapid boiling. Not every attempt will be equally 
successful, therefore we only ask that the women 
will withhold their judgment for a little while, and 
at the same time not lose their courage. Repeated 
experiments will certainly make them acknowledge 
the correctness of our views ; of this we feel assured. 
The dried and preserved greens will, without fail, 
exercise a great influence upon the welfare of the 
nations, not only because they will effect a great 
extension of gardening, which always forms the 
most gainful culture of the soil ; but they will in- 
troduce to commerce also new and profitable objects 
of trade. By means of this commerce, hereafter, a 
multiplicity of tropical productions will be rendered 
accessible to the north, less favored by nature, — 
productions of which we now know anything, only 
by the descriptions of travelers. Not only in dain- 
ties and delicacies will the colonies in future cater 
for us, but even in times of need, they will power- 
fully come to the help of the old world, and the 
imports from them will exert a beneficial influence 
on the nourishment of the masses. The tropics 
are rich in the most important nutritious plants. 



44 

which, so far as inquiry after them exists, may be of 
special importance for exportation,as immeasurable 
tracts of land there await cultivation. The earth 
has capacities enough to feed richly all the men 
that live upon it, and far more, if man will not lay 
his hands idly in his lap. 

Among the nutritious tropical plants which are 
of importance, for the whole world, is the cassava, 
(jatropha manihot,) with its bulbous roots, often 30 
lbs. weight. An acre gives towards 480 cwt. of 
bulbs, which, cut in slices and dried, would be a 
welcome substitute in the markets of Europe, for 
the potato, worn out by age and diseased. The 
crop there is surer than that of grain with us. Be- 
sides the leaves of the cassava, the stalk is a good- 
tasting green plant. The banana, too, is found in 
the tropics in such rich excess, and to be had at so 
low a price, that it would certainly form a profitable 
article of export, as soon as. only a method easily 
appreciable and less costly for its preservation, has 
been discovered. A single cluster, which often 
consists of 160 to 180 of the fruit, weighs more 
than 60 lbs. The fruit is gathered four times in a 
year. The stout herb-like stock requires, indeed, 
for its full development from the seed, five to six 
years ; but from the perennial base put forth young 
sprouts which often hang rich with their fruit in 
three months. At a moderate valuation, the banana 
yields, according to Alexander Von Humboldt, a 
product, which exceeds in weight that of grain, 
about one hundred and forty times, and that of po- 



45 

tatoes, on the same space, forty times. We can not, 
indeed, compare the nutritious value of the banana 
with that of the potato, much less with that of 
grain : but still, Humboldt is of the opinion, that 
the banana could, on the same extent of ground, 
feed twenty-five times more men than the grain. 
For the European palates, the fresh fruit are with- 
out relish, at least, they need a sort of wontedness 
in order to find the taste pleasant. And yet there 
are not wanting authors who are of the opinion, 
that, by this fruit, sin came into the world. The 
banana must have been fine, which, in the garden 
of Eden, excited the appetite of Eve. 

On the other hand, the bread-fruit tree, (artocarpus 
incisa,) one of the most important nutritious plants 
for the people of the torrid zone, furnishes so agree- 
able and nutritious a food, that men near it hardly 
ever need any other for their sustenance. Eight to 
ten months through, the tree is covered with its 
fruit as large as a child's head, and weighing three 
to four pounds, and so abundant, that it can be 
gathered also in sufficient quantities for the three 
non-bearing months of the year. Three trees are 
enough for the nourishment of one man. The 
present are different times from those in which 
Forster lived, and it may be well that Europe 
had to wait for an immediate advantage from the 
bread-tree with which he made us acquainted. He 
says, himself, on this occasion, that the all-devouring 
trade of Europe attracts to itself the gifts of nature 
in the other parts of the world, and gives them a 
value which they had not in their own country. 



46 

Similarly to the dried greens, flesh, by drying or 
pressing out of the water, may be preserved for a 
long time. In the warm regions, this method is 
already in use, and even in the high ones of the 
north, they make use of it to preserve for a long 
time the fishes which the ocean so lavishly yields. 
In South America, they understand how, by means 
of a very sharp knife, to cut the quarters of oxen 
into long, narrow and thin slips. They strew them 
over with the meal of Indian corn, in order that 
they may not lose their fleshy juices, and hang 
them up on frames that, through the operation of 
the sun upon them, the water may be evaporated 
from the flesh. Towards evening, they carefully 
observe the heavens ; if a rain is threatened, then 
they bring the flesh under cover, and hang it out 
again in the morning. One hundred parts of fresh 
flesh yield about twenty-six parts of dried ; the 
water, therefore, with the exception of a small 
quantity that remains, passes off. The dried flesh, 
(jerked, or hung beef,) here called tasajo, has a dark 
brown color, not a disagreeable taste, and sufficient 
flexibility to allow it to be rolled up. It now pre- 
sents only a slight surface to the action of the air, 
and on this account it may be kept for a long time, 
if the precaution is only taken to preserve it from 
moisture. 

In the mines of South America, the use of 
tasajo is wide spread ; it is here the universal sub- 
stitute for raw ox flesh. In camps and on board 
of vessels, the tasajo also performs important ser- 



47 

vice. If it is desired to prepare the dried flesh for 
the table, the same process is pursued as with the 
greens. First, it is soaked in water, in order that 
by the reception of the water, it may again become 
like fresh meats. Made into a soup, or, as boiled 
meat, it can hardly be distinguished from that 
which is prepared of fresh. 

The Indian tribes roving about over North Amer- 
ica, who drag their supplies of flesh around with 
them, follow a method which nearly approaches 
that of pressed greens. They pound the thin dried 
slices of flesh tight together, so that it may take up 
the least possible space, and can be easily trans- 
ported. The dried flesh here, bears the name of 
pemmican. It offers the greatest quality of nutri- 
tious substance in the least compass. For another 
reason, the dried flesh is to be preferred to the so- 
called flesh extract, (evaporated soup,) as first pro- 
posed by Proust, and which Leibig has again, 
more recently, occasionally recommended. First, 
it perfectly preserves the flavorous smell which is 
developed in cooking; but the flesh extract loses 
very much of it in preparation, as the flavor escapes 
in the evaporation. 

For this reason, it has been often times proposed, 
in the preservation of flesh, to bring drying into use. 
But until now, the experiments have almost all 
failed, while, in our temperate climate, they have 
wished to effect the evaporation of water by the 
natural heat of the sun. This, however, is not suf- 
ficient, at least the drying out goes on so gradually, 



48 

that we have always reason to fear its spoiling. A 
further objection, was the cutting in pieces of the flesh, 
by which it becomes unfit for many useful prepara- 
tions. But the rendering it smaller, is urgently 
necessary, as large pieces may not be dried in this 
way without loss. On this account, a Frenchman, 
named Dig£, proposed first to boil the flesh half an 
hour, and to dry it by artificial heat, of from 50 to 
70 degrees Centigrade. By the boiling, the fresh 
meat loses 25 per cent, of water ; but, at the same 
time, not a trifling part of its essential elements 
important for nutrition ; and on this account, this 
proposal is little to be recommended. 

But since the dried and pressed greens have 
been so much preserved, it is high time to bring 
dried flesh again into remembrance ; less to intro- 
duce this method into our household economy, 
than to preserve for the benefit of hungry mankind, 
the vast masses of flesh that are uselessly wasted in 
North and South America, Australia, and even 
Southern Russia. In the countries mentioned, are 
found so numerous herds of cattle and sheep, that 
they are slaughtered simply for the sake of their 
tallow and skins, while the flesh has no value on 
the spot and place, so that it serves as food for the 
ravenous birds and beasts of prey. According to 
the processes of dried and pressed greens, it is very 
probable that a person could prepare out of this 
flesh a valuable article of trade. How far this idea 
has already been carried into execution, we shall 
hereafter see. 



49 

The preservation of milk was for a long period 
an unsolved problem. For a short time, the devel- 
opment of fermentation, has been prevented by the 
lowering of the temperature ; the vessels filled with 
milk were set in cold water, which was frequently 
renewed. In a further transportation, ice also 
was brought into use, or to keep it from souring, or ? 
more correctly, to check the existing acid, there 
was added to the milk bi-carbonate of soda, in the 
proportion of five grains to one quart of milk. The 
wants of housekeeping were provided for, indeed, 
in this way, but it was an object to render the use 
of this important means of nutrition, accessible 
also to the seaman on his long and difficult voyages. 

Nothing seemed better than to bring here into 
use, the Appert method; but it was very soon relin- 
quished. Milk can, indeed, be preserved in this 
way from spoiling, but it suffers another change. 
In time, the fatty particles contained in the milk ? 
are perfectly secreted on the surface ; we have no 
longer milk, as a distribution anew of the fatty 
particles can not be effected. Braconnet, Gri- 
moaud, Calais and Babinet, therefore, proposed to 
evaporate the milk with sugar into a syrup or a paste. 
This was tried by various persons on a large scale, 
but the success was uncertain, till, finally, Lignac 
removed all the difficulties out of the way. His 
conserve of milk already, in 1849, at the French 
Exhibition, drew the attention of the examining 
judges on many accounts towards it, so that they 
5 



50 

were moved to decree the silver medal to the ex- 
hibitor. 

Lignac's method is simple and rational. He 
adds to a quart of milk, 3f oz. of sugar, and then 
evaporates it to the consistency of a thick syrup. 
About 60 per cent, of the water passes oft* in this 
way. The evaporation is carried on in large flat 
pans ; the depth of the milk must not exceed five 
lines. The flat pans are warmed, by being set in 
hot water, and during the evaporation, the milk 
must be continually stirred with a wooden spatula, 
to prevent the formation of a scum. After the 
evaporation, the milk is filled into cylindrical tin 
boxes, which are soldered, and then exposed to a 
water bath for thirty minutes, at a temperature of 
10 degrees, Centigrade. To secure this tempera- 
ture, add to the water for every quart, 6f ozs. of 
salt and as much syrup. 

When the milk is to be used, it is simply dis- 
solved in the same quantity of water which it has 
lost by evaporation. A fluid is thus obtained 
which has all the properties of fresh milk ; like this, 
it secretes the cream when at rest, as with fresh 
milk, it foams when boiled. Generally, the taste 
and smell are perfectly identical with those of fresh 
milk. When this fluid has been once boiled, it 
keeps a longer time than fresh milk. If the box is 
once opened, the evaporated milk contained in it 
will remain unchanged for at least fourteen days, 
and even a longer time, especially, if the precaution 
is used, in taking out the quantity necessary for 
use, always to restore again a new surface. 



51 

By command of the Minister of the Marine, experi- 
ments were instituted with this milk, at Toulon. 
The report upon it was on all points very favorable. 
Other experiments were tried with it in the hos- 
pital of the Dey at Algiers. Not only here this milk 
afforded with vermicelli, rice, and as a milk-por- 
ridge, food of a good condition and an agreeable 
taste, but it showed itself to be better than the 
fresh milk of Algiers. This last, almost always 
coagulated in boiling, while the former kept good 
for a long period. In time, it was evident that 
Lignac's milk was preferable to every other, and 
for this reason, the lords of the English admiralty 
were led to introduce this milk into the English 
fleet. In 1849, Lignac furnished for it 45,000 
boxes. 

For agriculture, the preservation of milk is of 
great interest, especially for those regions which 
lie far away from large cities. They may here, by it, 
be in a situation to derive from milk a much higher 
profit. It would be more profitable to evaporate the 
milk in vacuo, and so, in an apparatus like that in 
use in the sugar manufactories. The process might 
thus be finished in a shorter time, and the temper- 
ature might be a lower one, by which the advantage 
would be gained of preserving to the milk its agree- 
able taste unaltered. 

Just as the exclusion of the air, and the evapora- 
tion of water, so does a lower temperature allow 
the preservation of food for a long time, without 
spoiling or losing its nutritious value. Every one 



52 

acknowledges the preserving effect of ice. Game, 
fish, and other delicacies of the sea, are thus pro- 
tected in the hot days of summer, by covering 
them with pieces of ice. The temperature is in 
this way lowered in their nearest vicinity to 2, 3 
to 4 degrees Centigrade. In North America, famed 
for its ice trade, which particularly has its seat in 
Boston, and here alone, in 1847, 353 vessels were 
occupied, they use ice, in many ways, for the ob- 
ject mentioned, in their domestic husbandry.* 

A temperature below cypher may preserve flesh 
for any length of time. Siberia affords a proof of 
this, where, not seldom, a perfectly preserved mam- 
moth, — an antediluvian animal, — with the skin and 
flesh, has been found in the ice, — the flesh of which 
was so fresh, that the dogs eat it with an appetite. 
The ice cellars furnish similar evidence ; in the large 
cities, — the establishment of which causes no great 
expense, — they are already used in many ways by 
the butchers, to preserve the flesh in the heat of 
summer from spoiling. Generally, they seek an 
elevated place as a situation for an ice pit, and 
then lay the entrance higher than the pit itself 
looking towards the east or the north, also protected 
from the sun's rays. In order that the heat may 
penetrate but little into the pit, a long and crooked 
path leads to the entrance,-which is provided with 

* The ice trade has very greatly increased since the date here 
given, and the details of its preparation for exportation, would be 
found most interesting, did our limits allow us to quote them at 
length.— Tr. 



53 

several doors. The walls of the pit are abundantly 
lined with bad conductors of heat, as bark, sedge? 
or straw, by which the entrance of the heat pressing 
in from the outside, is rendered more difficult. In 
order to prevent the effects of the melting ice, they 
lay drains to carry ofl the water. New receptacles 
for ice, called refrigerators, of various kinds, are 
placed above the ground. They are constructed 
of wood or of brick ; the walls are double, and 
stand apart from each other. The space between 
them is likewise filled in with bad conductors of 
heat, as saw-dust, straw, charcoal, shavings, &c. 
Tan-bark, which has been moistened with water 
and then exposed to frost in the winter, likewise 
affords good service, as it requires a long time to 
thaw it. In some of these refrigerators, they make 
use of air-tight chambers between the doubled 
walls, as bad conductors of heat. 

Salt and sugar, ardent spirits and vinegar, those 
great antiseptics, which only, for a long time, have 
constituted the material for the art of preserving, 
are most generally used in domestic economy, 
but they no longer answer for the greater wants of 
national intercourse. Luxury, too, which is always 
more developed, already makes other claims. The 
ease of reciprocal intercourse of the nations ; the 
ever-extending navigation, and the increasing trade 
in consequence of it, has removed the contrarieties 
of summer and winter and north and south ; it 
allows us easily to obtain the productions of another 
5* 



54 

clime and season, since the progress of chemistry, 
in modern times, has afforded the means of gratify- 
ing the growing necessities. How far the just-now 
mentioned methods of the preservation of food 
contained in flesh and blood has come into the 
every-day intercourse, the great exhibitions at Lon- 
don, Munich and Paris, have taught us. Let us 
cast a glance at the two last, for we can speak of 
them as an eye-witness. 

In Munich, the number of exhibitors was but 
small. The food preserved after Appert's method, 
had not received the approbation of our house- 
keepers ; salted meat here still maintains itself in 
its former favor, and this from choice serves for the 
victualing of ships, or as articles of export across 
the ocean. Therefore, these objects were especially 
sent to the Munich Exhibition from Hamburg and 
Lubec, where the new branch of industry had 
already acquired some importance. The meats of 
Mulsow & Co., in Hamburg, received particular 
approval ; this firm, as well as Brand & Co. and 
D. A. Carstens, in Lubec, obtained the medals, and 
K. Hahn & Co., in Lubec, a commendatory notice. 

The dried and pressed greens from Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine, though a considerable selection of them 
were prepared according to the rules of cookery, by 
no means corresponded to the expectations of the 
testing committee. According to their expression, 
the greens were, in part, hard and woody, and the 
yellow turnips and the cauliflowers, &c, had a dis- 
colored appearance, and, in part, had a hay taste. 



55 

The yellow turnips and spinage, of Carstens, from 
Lubec, were better. But in a note to his report, 
the referee, Prof. Stein, of Dresden, admits that 
later occasion was presented to him, of instituting 
further experiments with the Frankfort pressed 
greens, which turned out far more favorable than 
those in Munich. A similar judgment was also 
reported by another member of the testing commit- 
tee. The unfavorable opinion, according to the 
statement of the manufacturer, was caused by the 
fact, that the small kinds of the former year, had 
been sent to the exhibition at Munich. We, our- 
selves, in the previous years, when we were, at 
repeated times, for a while in Frankfort, took with 
us a large selection of the pressed greens, which 
obtained applause in the circle of our acquaint- 
ances. But we will remark, that the period of time 
given for soaking in order to change them, is much 
too short ; if the directions are closely followed, the 
adverse judgments are easily to be explained. 

The Frankfort pressed greens deserve a wide 
extension, as well as manufacture and imitation 
in our great and blessed country. We believe we 
shall render a service to the German housekeepers 
by transcribing the following items from the price- 
current of the Frankfort manufactory, and, together 
with the German prices, set down also the French 
ones of the large manufactory of Choliet and Com- 
pany. Every cake of the Frankfort pressed greens 
furnishes five portions. 



56 



Greens. 


Frankfort. 


Paris* 




Apples, per portion, 1.8 ki 


.= 6.18 pfg. 






Cauliflowers, 


" 7.2 " 


=24.69 " 


20c.=19.20 


P% 


Succory, 


5.2 " 


=17.83 " 


15c. =14.40 


« 


Endives, 


3.5 " 


=12.00 " 






Julienne, or Rockel 


3.5 " 


=12.00 " 


6c.= 5.76 


<< 


Early Cabbage, 


" 3.5 " 


=12.00 " 






Yellow Turnips, 


3.0 " 


=10.22 " 


5c.= 4.80 


it 


Kohl Rabi, 


3.5 " 


=12.00 " 







Curled Cabbage, 


3.5 " 


=12.00 " 






Plucked Asparagus 


" 6.0 " 


=20.57 " 


37c.=35.52 


u 


Plucked Peas, I., 


14.5 " 


=49.71 " 






" II., 


9.6 " 


=32.91 " 


30c.=28.80 


ft 


Roman Cabbage, 


4.8 " 


16.46 " 






Rose " 


6.0 " 


20.57 " 


15c. = 14.40 


(( 


Red 


" 3.5 " 


12.00 " 






Red Turnips, 


3.5 " 


12.00 " 


5c.= 4.80 


a 


Celery, l 


3.5 " 


12.00 " 






Cut Beans, 


4.4 " 


15.09 " 


18c. 17.28 


(( 


Scorzonera, 


4.8 " 


16.46 " 






Spinage, 


3.5 " 


12.00 " 


10c. 9.6 


il 


"White Cabbage, 


" 3.0 " 


10.22 " 


5c. 4.8 


ce 


White Turnips, 


" 3.0 " 


10.22 " 


5c. 4.8 


ct 


Wirsing Cabbage, 


" 3.2 " 


10.97 " 






Sugar Peas, 


4.4 " 


15.09 " 






Damsons, 


2.0 " 


6.86 " 






Feld Kost,f 


1.71 " 


5.88 " 







By taking 250 port, at Frankfort, per port. 1.52 kr.=4.33 pfg. 

Pod Fruits. Frankfort. 

Yellow Pea Soup, at per portion, 2.0 kr=6.86 pfg. 
White Bean " " " 2.0 " 6.86 " 

Lentile, " " " 2.0 " 6.86 " 



* The portion of dried greens weighs, in Paris, 12.5 grammes= 
0.85 loth, or ^ oz. ; of potatoes, 33 gr amines =2.258 loth, or l£ oz. 

f A dish of Wirsing cabbage, white turnips, peas, beans and pota- 
toes, so fine tasting and nutritious, that is especially to be recom- 
mended for sustenance of the masses. 






57 

Potatoes. Frankfort. Paris. 

Potato groats, at per portion, 1.4 kr.=4.8 pfg 
Potato flour, " " 2.0 " 6.8 " 

Potatoes sliced, " " 2.4 " 8.23 " 5c. =4.8 pfg. 

Potato dumplings, " " 2.4 " 8.23 " 

The Industrial Palace, at Paris, presented a com- 
plete and magnificent exhibition of all the known 
kinds of food preserved, and in this, France ex- 
ceeded all. The French Division numbered not 
less than fifty-three exhibitors, of whom twenty-one 
appeared with dry or preserved greens. This rich 
display of greens instructs us what an important 
place these hold in France. Whoever is familiar 
with this country, knows that many words of com- 
pliment and of abuse to an extent seen in no 
other language, are borrowed from the vegetable 
kingdom. Thus, for instance, there are cornichon, 
pickled gherkin, a favorite jocose, but yet very 
strongly abusive word, and mon petit chou, my little 
cabbage, a very delicate word of flattery. This 
usage enters into the designation of him who is 
named in the German language, "ein grossen 
thier," a great beast; and for it the Parisian gamin, 
has no other expression, than u au gross legume" a 
great vegetable.* 

Among the French manufacturers of greens, 
Chollet & Co., who prepare their articles according 
to Masson's method, and Morel, Fatio & Co., who 
use Gannal's process, were specially prominent. 

* The somewhat similar word of burlesque or sportive abuse, 
•' ' small potatoes," in use in this country, will, no doubt, occur to the 
reader. — Tk. 



58 

Their greens looked particularly inviting, and pos- 
sessed a spicy, fragrant flavor. The former house 
furnish, every year, whole cargoes of greens to 
the French navy and army, whose provisioning is 
thus essentially improved. * During the correspond- 
ing season, in twenty-four hours, towards 100 cwt. 
of fresh greens were here worked up; in the selec- 
tion, there were about 24 cwt. rejected, and the 
remainder contracted, after drying, to less than 11 
cwt. The drying out required, daily, 9f cwt. of 
hard coal, in order to heat the air ; besides there 
were, daily, almost 3 cwt, of hard coal required 
for the production of steam, by which the hy- 
draulic presses were set in motion. The refuse 
was sold as cow-feed. The house of Morel, Fatio 
& Co., in 1853, prepared above 12,000 cwt. of greens. 
The next year, the manufactory in Paris, was con- 
siderably enlarged, and one as large, besides, erected 
at Mano. In the Industrial palace, Morel, Fatio 
& Co. appeared as partners of the firm of Chollot 
& Co. 

The preservation of flesh was here represented in 
every respect in the French Division. Nigh to whole 
mountains of boxes a la Appert, we found also dried 
flesh, and besides yet many methods exhibited, of 
which we have made no mention. Thus, for ex- 
ample, we observed in one compartment, flesh 
which had as entirely the appearance of fresh, as if 
it had been hung up in the morning — a mutton chop, 
a sole, a half of a calf, a snipe, although the hunt 
was not yet opened. But the flesh was not fresh ; 



59 

the appearance only deceived us, for a card stated, 
that the snipe was shot on the 2d of February, and 
therefore almost a half a year before, and the other 
pieces in part, bore yet older dates. On more close 
inspection, it appeared that the flesh was furnished 
with a coating of wax, by which the access of the 
air was prevented. But this method is not new ; 
we find it already described in Herodotus. War- 
rington proposed a similar process formerly, in 
order to preserve the flesh of buffaloes in the Amer- 
ican wilds, which is wasted in the place where 
they are killed, for transportation to Europe. He 
would cover the flesh with a coat of gypsum, and 
this was to be afterwards dipped into grease. 

Horse flesh too, was worthy of notice, being 
exhibited as preserved by powerful means, in the 
various stages of putrefaction, and ox flesh which 
was surrounded with a gelatinous coating, drawn 
from the flesh itself, and that bore the name of 
conservatine* Under the name of " Societe gene- 
rale de conservation des viandes" an Association 
has been formed with large means, to make this 
new method a source of gain. We have received 
more accurate conclusions respecting the peculiari- 
ties of this process by means of the experiments 
which were carried on in July of last year, under 
the eye of a committee that made a report on the 
subject to the Minister of War. 

The four quarters of an ox which has been 
slaughtered in the usual way, are to be cut into pieces 
of which the smallest weigh four lbs., the largest ten 



60 

lbs. In dividing them, they remove the bones, and 
take precaution carefully to loosen the masses of 
muscle, and without unnecessarily doing them in- 
jury. This last circumstance is of the greatest im- 
portance ; hence, they guard well against cutting 
needlessly into the flesh, and endeavor, especially, 
to keep the surface of the pieces as smooth and uni- 
form as possible. Farther, they remove carefully 
the fat, and the. blood vessels which do not penetrate 
into the flesh, and generally open all the cavities on 
which they strike. Thus they seek to avoid the 
gathering of air any where in the flesh, which might 
help it to spoil. At the same time they lay aside 
whatever may serve for the preparation of the con- 
servatine, that is, the bones, which are freed from 
the marrow, and then broken into small pieces, the 
tail and little cuttings of refuse, especially the sin- 
ewy flesh and the neck. 

About 60.10 per cent, of the weight of the ox is 
destined for preservation, and the loss amounts to 
0.57 per cent. During the boiling and roasting of 
those pieces which are destined to be preserved, the 
conservatine is prepared. All those parts which 
have been laid aside for this purpose, are placed, 
with a quart of water to a pound, in a kettle over 
a lively fire, in order that the water may be made 
to boil quickly. Then the fire is moderated, the 
fluid skimmed off and set aside, and after twelve 
hours, poured through a sieve. The pieces which 
remain after this, and in the kettle, are put under 
the press in order to press out the juice as much as 



61 

possible. The fluids thus strained and pressed out, 
are mixed together, purified anew by filtering, and 
then again evaporated under a continual stirring, 
with a moderate fire, to the consistency of syrup. 
Then follows an addition of gum Arabic and sugar. 
After the fluid has cooled off to 35 deg. Cent., a 
quart of alcohol at 85 deg. to every fifty pounds of 
the fluid is mixed in. Now, the conservatine — a 
sort of jelly — is prepared and ready. Every piece 
of flesh is dipped all over in the conservatine, which 
has a temperature of 35 deg. Cent., and then till the 
following day, when the operation is repeated, hung 
up in the air. The exhibitor said that the flesh 
which was wholly covered witht he protecting jelly, 
had kept at least a year. If any one wishes to 
use the meat so prepared, it is simply dipped a 
short time in water that is warm enough to dis- 
solve the jelly. If the flesh is raw, it is prepared as 
fresh meat; if it has been boiled or roasted, it 
can be eaten at once after it has been sufficiently 
warmed. 

Time will teach us what value we may attrib- 
ute to this method. By order of the Minister of 
War, experiments are now going on in France 
which will inform us what we are to think of this 
new process. In the mean time, the result of an 
experiment which was made in April, of last year, 
has been published. A raw shoulder of an ox nine- 
ty-six pounds weight, was cut in slices after six 
months, before various witnesses. The flesh had 
preserved its natural color ; the muscular fiber was 
6 



62 

very elastic. Fat, bones and marrow appeared ex- 
actly as in a fresh slaughtered beast. A piece of 
the flesh from it was prepared as a beefsteak ; and 
it was found excellent. A competent judge — a well 
known epicure — praised the juicy taste of this beef- 
steak, and likewise the agreeable smell of the raw 
flesh. 

Should the future furnish equally successful re- 
sults, it is not to be denied that in this new method 
we see a decided advance in the preservation of 
food. With the same success, it can be applied 
to fish, game, fowls, greens, fruits, &c. The bur- 
densome use of boxes is thus wholly dispensed 
with ; the food coated with the jelly, in transporta- 
tion may be simply packed in chests without fear 
of its spoiling. The expenses of this method are 
not very large, because all the parts of the animal 
are used. Even the flesh that has been pressed out, 
the refuse in the preparation of the conservatine, 
can -always be sold at a moderate price to the man- 
ufacturers of sausages and to meat houses. 

To the Paris Industrial Exhibition there were 
also brought specimens of another method, which 
on the supposition that it was all it was boasted to 
be, and should thus be proved hereafter, was looked 
upon in general as a wonder, and indeed, as the 
greatest wonder among the wonderful things of in- 
dusty exhibited. Lamy, a short time before, a man- 
facturer at Clermont-Ferrand, but now Professor 
of the University, preserved even those substances 
which most easily spoil in their natural state, with- 



63 

out drying, boiling or pressing them, without shut- 
ting them up hermetically, or covering them with 
a protecting coating. It is said that this new meth- 
od has not been discovered by accident, but that 
only pure scientific principles were brought into 
use. Lamy has not yet published his secret, but 
two of the chief operations he uses are known. 

One consists in coagulating the albuminous sub- 
stances by which usually the corruption is intro- 
duced, and in the use of a gas. In many cases, it 
is sufficient to let the operation of the gas continue 
some days, in order to protect the substances for a 
long time from spoiling. In certain substances, as 
in game, fruits and greens, the first operation is 
perfected by another. This latter has for its object 
to remove from the atmosphere which surrounds 
the substances, its oxygen, without which corrup- 
tion can not commence. This removal is effected 
by certain salts, but which in no wise come in con- 
tact with the food, and therefore also, can exert no 
injurious effect on them. The two main principles 
which it brings into use, therefore, are to arrest 
the exciters of corruption, and remove the free 
oxygen. 

Lamy, exhibited numerous specimens which 
were adapted to excite wonder. We saw two 
shoulders of mutton, of which the one already for 
five, the other ten years, had withstood corrup- 
ton, although both of them were hung up in the 
open air, and protected by no coating against the 
effect of the heat and other injurious influences. 



64 

Further, there was to be seen a splendid roebuck that 
had already been preserved for two years, a salmon, 
a pike and aturbot, all of which seemed destined to 
figure on a festive occasion at a splendid banquet. 
Fowls were preserved with their entrails and feath- 
ers ; grapes, apricots, cherries, plums, pears, oranges 
and truffles had perfectly the appearance of fresh 
ones. Cauliflowers were the most deceptively like 
in aspect to fresh. Various articles of this kind on 
the Emperor's table, received great applause. A Pa- 
risian fruit-merchant during the whole of the winter 
before, sold apricots and cherries which had been 
preserved according to Lamy's method, at 1 to 1\ 
francs apiece. Lamy stated, that red beets, whole 
or sliced, beet juice, and even yeast, could be pre- 
served with equal success. 

It appears that this mode of preservation requires 
only a trifling cost ; ten centimes, not one silver 
groschen, (two to three cents,) will preserve one lb. 
of flesh, and one guilder, (eighty cents,) 2,000 lbs. 
of beet roots from spoiling. Should all this be es- 
tablished, Lamy's method may justly be regarded 
as the greatest wonder of the Paris Exhibition. It 
is comparatively a small matter to preserve food 
here from one year to another ; decidedly of prime 
importance is the ease with which the food can be 
prepared without loss, where it is in excess and 
cheap, and transported where there is a deficiency ? 
and hence is very dear. There are, as we have 
seen, countries on the wide globe which are richly 
blessed with a superfluity. Whole mountain loads 



65 

of flesh are there which is suitable to give strength 
and support to the hungry in Europe, enfeebled by 
age, who no more seems to be able to feed her 
children. Could this flesh be preserved easily and 
without great expense, there is no doubt, that it 
would find a profitable market with us, to the 
great advantage of the poor classes. The same is 
the case with respect to vegetables. 

Experiments for carrying out the ideas just de- 
veloped, have already been made, especially in 
America. The attention which has lately been 
turned again to the solution of this problem, so im- 
portant especially to the poorer classes, and on 
which reflecting minds have been earnestly en- 
gaged for centuries, certainly belongs to the charac- 
teristic peculiarities of the Paris Exhibition. We 
are only doing an act of justice, when we confess 
that France leads the way in this enterprise of use- 
ful industry. How very much we have cause also, 
to follow this honorable example, the picture of a 
subaltern officer of once and now, teaches us, by 
which the Kladderadatsch (the German Punch) has 
set all to laughing. 

We can not quit the French division in the Paris 
Industrial Exhibition, without noticing, somewhat 
in detail, the Bouillon cakes and flesh-biscuit. The 
former have also, and jnstly so, become of poor re- 
pute, because on their being dissolved in water, for 
the most part, they have not the slightest resem- 
blance to flesh-broth. But still the so-called soup- 
6* 



cakes appear even now to play a great part in 
France. 

Meat-broth is one of the most important means 
of nutrition, as its numerous ingredients contain all 
that is requisite for the formation of flesh. Its res- 
torative power is acknowledged, especially among 
the sick at the period of convalescence; here it can 
be replaced by nothing. For the sustenance of the 
masses, concentrated meat-broth can only become 
important when it is afforded suitably manufac- 
tured in regions where flesh exists in great quan- 
tities. In different places, for example, in Australia, 
the best beef costs hardly 5.14, pfg., (about one cent) 
per lb. The means for providing it is very sim- 
ple. Half an hour's boiling of the finely chopped 
meat with eight to ten times the quantity of water, 
is entirely sufficient to draw out of the flesh all the 
ingredients that are important for nutrition. Be- 
fore the further evaporation of the meat-broths, it is 
absolutely necessary that the fat should be carefully 
removed by skimming off; otherwise the fat easily 
becomes rancid, and thus the manufacture is wholly 
useless. The evaporation of meat-broth until it 
stands by to cool, must be conducted by a gentle 
fire and as the best way, in a water bath. 

Long before Liebig's standard scientific experi- 
ments respecting flesh and its preparation as food, 
the importance of flesh for nutriment was acknowl- 
edged. Especially the French physicians and 
chemists, as particularly Parmentier and Proust, 
with affecting words, pointed to the benefits which 



67 

evaporated meat-broth might afford the sick, partic- 
ularly wounded soldiers. The endeavors of these 
noble men succeeded in causing that in various 
places where the conditions were favorable, experi- 
ments should be made to introduce this new branch 
of industry. The so-called " portable soup," came 
into trade in the form of cakes, but it did not at 
all correspond to excited expectations, because the 
principles of the preparation were defective. The 
price also was much too dear. 

First, through Liebig, in 1847, we obtained accu- 
rate knowledge of the elements of flesh, and thus, 
too, we learned the reason of the efficacy of meat- 
broths. Before this, there was another view re- 
specting it, but one which proved utterly erroneous. 
In the preparation of meat-broth on the large scale, 
a property wholly peculiar was soon observed ; the 
existence in a certain concentration produced by 
the glue which by the continued boiling of the flesh 
was formed of the tendonous tissue of the muscles. 
This substance was regarded as the principal vehi- 
cle of nutritiousness, and soon they wholly ceased 
to prepare the " portable soup" from flesh, as the 
tendons, feet, cartilage and bones, else almost 
worthless, afforded a much better jelly. The gain 
for the manufacturers was at the same time much 
greater, but the consumer fared badly by it ; instead 
of meat-soup, he bought glue that differed from the 
common joining glue of the cabinet-makers in noth- 
ing else than the enormous price. 

In France, it was believed that gelatine — the 



68 

objectionable name "glue," they had banished — 
was called upon to play a great part for the welfare 
of suffering humanity. In order to give a firm 
foundation for the doctrines of the new gospel, they 
concluded immediately to substitute for meat, in 
the great hospital of St. Louis, at Paris, broth of 
one-half quantity of bone jelly. Soon they had oc- 
casion to observe that the jelly was no ways nutri- 
tious ; but as the proprietors of manufactories who 
in France prepared bone and other rejected portions 
into jelly, maintained with bold front the opposite, 
the French Academy were induced to bring this 
question into the circle of their investigations. 
After a ten year's conflict, finally the so-called gel- 
atine committee, which consisted of the most cele- 
brated chemists (Thenard, d'Arcet, Dumas) and 
physicians, and met under the presidency of Mag- 
endie, handed in a report to the Academy on 
the 20th of August, 1841, which occupied seventy- 
eight pages in the Revue Medicate. The conclu- 
sion to which they came was decidedly unfavora- 
ble to the jelly; they utterly denied to it capacity 
for nutrition. Dogs which were fed with it died 
rather than take the offered food ; even rats which 
so greedily fall upon everything, left this food un- 
touched. In itself, the jelly was tasteless, and ex- 
cited disgust in eating it. Even when it was mixed 
with strong meat-broth, the result was in no respect 
more favorable. At a later period, for the first time, 
could this damnatory judgment, given from experi- 
ments, be scientifically established. The glue which 



69 

otherwise is contained in only a very little quantity 
in real meat-broth, (two parts in one thousand,) 
contributes not at all to nutrition ; far more, the 
eating of it is injurious, as is proved by multiplied 
experiments. The chemical nature of the glue fur- 
nishes a conclusion respecting it. Glue contains 
nitrogen, even 18 per cent., therefore more than the 
protein-substances so important to nutrition. And 
yet the former can not be substituted for the latter ; 
glue, in general, hardly ever exists as such, in ani- 
mal bodies, but first originates by means of contin- 
ued boiling by a fire, from the tissue which hence 
thus bears the name of the glue-producing tissue. 
Though it is scarcely to be questioned that this 
tissue which plays a very important part in animal 
bodies, arises from protein-substances, yet it is as 
well-established, that the glue is not capable of 
forming protein-substances in animal bodies. Just 
as little is glue capable of supplying the means of 
nutrition that are free from nitrogen. It does not 
disappear as do these, without a trace in the ani- 
mal bodies, but overloads the blood, the universal 
nutritious fluid, (and which contains no glue-yield- 
ing substances at all,) with nitrogenous combina- 
tions, that exert a directly disturbing influence. 

Against the conclusion of the Academy, the 
French manufacturers rose up with all their might ; 
they inscribed on their banner the entirely false sen- 
tence, " Glue bears the same relation to gelatine, 
as dried up flesh does to fresh." Laine, especially, 
came out against the report of the Academy. He 



70 

appealed to the fact that for fifteen years he had 
furnished gelatin-cakes to the fleet and the army, as 
also to the expeditions to Morea and Algiers, and 
that these cakes had found applause, as well of the 
generals and officers, as of the soldiers. But he did 
not here reflect, that the jelly in these cases was in 
no wise given out as the exclusive, or even the chief 
means of nutrition, and on this account, the inju- 
rious effects could not so much fall under view. 
The Exhibition teaches us that the endeavor of the 
French manufacturers to turn off from themselves 
the prejudicial influence of the report was not whol- 
ly without success. Not only has this branch of 
industry gained a firmer foothold beyond France, 
but it also appears that even the scientific world are 
in doubt as to the assertions of that report. It is 
completely established, that the glue is not in a 
condition to replace permanently, the protein-sub- 
stances. But on the other side, it is believed, that 
they go too far in denying to glue any value as a 
means of nutrition. It is regarded as probable, 
that the jelly may, especially, be useful to re-con- 
valescents, yielding a substitute for the glue-pro- 
ducing tissue that has been used up, and so indi- 
rectly limits the use of protein-substances from 
which that tissue would otherwise be formed. 

But it is not hence said, that all soup-cakes con- 
sist of glue. In Russia, especially, they prepare 
such as satisfy all the requisitions. The broth made 
of them has no disagreeable smell and taste, and 



71 

especially when used with greens, affords a very 
nutritious food. 

A wholly different kind of soup-cakes were ex- 
hibited by a company which made it their object 
to realize a profit on the great abundance of flesh 
of South America, for Europe. These cakes con- 
sist of fresh meat and greens both dried. The flesh 
has lost none of its nutritious value by the action 
of the water and fire, and for this reason these 
cakes are very well adapted to afford a nutritious 
dish. 

Already, at the London Exhibition, the meat- 
biscuit of Gail Bordon, attracted the greatest atten- 
tion. They resembled much the usual ship-biscuit 
in outward appearance; but they combined meat 
and flour in the simplest and cheapest form that 
could be imagined. First, there is prepared from 
meat a broth, and this is evaporated by a gentle 
heat to the consistency of syrup ; then the flour, in 
sufficient quantities, forms a dough from which the 
biscuit are made. Their surface is perforated with 
a pointed instrument, and then they are placed in 
the oven to dry. 

The meat-biscuit can be easily transported and 
may be kept for a long time. They attract indeed, 
some moisture from the air, but still in so slight a 
degree that they do not mold. They were carried, 
for example, on a voyage from New York to China 
and back, without any change, being perceptible. 
Another specimen had been preserved for a year in 
a bag without experiencing the slightest decompo- 



72 

sition. Furnished with a small supply of meat- 
biscuit, one can now traverse the immense wild 
solitudes of Texas and other parts of the New 
World with safety. We need hear no more now 
of the great sufferings to which the caravans of 
travelers, for weeks and months destitute of inter- 
course with men in the inhospitable regions, so fre- 
quently fall victims, in consequence of the want of 
food. It has already been introduced into the 
American navy. 

In the short space of half an hour, the meat- 
biscuit with from twenty to thirty times more water, 
to which a little salt and some spice is added, by 
boiling, yields an excellent and nutritious food, 
which possesses the characteristic taste of fresh 
meat. An ounce of this meat-biscuit is sufficient 
for a meal. According to the expression of the 
London jury, a pound of this biscuit contains the 
nutritious substance of five pounds of the best beef 
mixed with one half a pound of flour. Ten pounds 
of this biscuit would be sufficient to keep up not 
only the sound health for a month, of one man, but 
also the strength of a laborer. 

In France, too, the manufacture of meat-biscuit 
has already been imitated. We had opportunity 
to observe that meat-biscuit is a common means 
of provision among the French on voyages. The 
composition of the French meat-biscuit is differ- 
ent from that of the American ; it contains flour, 
meat in substance, (boiled,) and the inseparable 
greens. Eight and a half ounces of this biscuit 



73 

which contains seventeen per cent, of dried meat, 
gives six portions. 

The French Division formed the principal rooms 
for food at the Paris Exhibition. Of seventy-five 
European exhibitors, fifty-three, as we have already 
metioned, were from France. Further, Germany 
furnished six; Pfaff, inDamstadt, Boehm, inWurtz- 
burg, Bouillon and Milk: Carstens, in Lubec, Mul- 
sow & Co., and Neuenschwender,in Hamburg — the 
last displayed milk ; Luxemburg, one ; England, five ; 
Holland, four; Portugal, three ; Belgium, Demark, 
potatoes and greens ; Norway and Tuscany, each 
one. The other parts of the world were also repe- 
sented ; Australia and Canada, each three ; Mar- 
tinique, one — Milk; Algiers one — meat-biscuit. 
C. Dastre, from Cape Town had exported a fine dis- 
play of boxes, which concealed inside sheep's 
kidneys, boiled beef and veal. Many of the trop- 
ical islands had already undertaken to realize what 
we have mentioned above — to feed with the crumbs 
that fall from their richly-set tables, hungering 
Europe. 

In France, this branch of industry has been fos- 
tered for years, and for this reason, the important 
development it has made, need not be wondered at. 
Especially for luxuries, there has already been se- 
cured an extended market ; in all the regions of the 
world they are already known, and find willing 
customers. The French Exhibition of 1849, pre- 
sented a rich selection of the most various manu- 
factures, though indeed some of them appeared to be 
7 



74 

more as aids to the art of cooking, than special arti- 
cles of business. The meats for food, according to 
Appert's method, were not then exclusively employed 
in the navy ; their use had already become common. 
Especially was this the case with delicacies, as 
game, greens and fruits. A different price only was 
desirable ; the condition of the food itself was ex- 
cellent. 



The extraordinary scarcity of the last year, 
brought the necessities of the poor in a lively man- 
ner before the view. Much has been spoken and 
written on the causes of this scarcity. The most 
various opinions respecting it have been published. 
And yet we may say, that in the discussion of this 
question of the highest importance to the life and 
welfare of the nations, it has been entered into but 
superficially. The existence of the necessity no 
one can deny. It however did but little in lessen- 
ing it, to have proved that the laboring class in 
former times were yet worse than at the present 
day. This may be ; but in the waste of their words 
of comfort, it has been forgotten that in conse- 
quence of the advance of civilization, the demands 
which the laborers of the present day make on 
social life, were not known to this class centuries 
ago. As little consolation does it give to point to 
the extraordinary advances which agriculture has 
made within the last thirty years. The omnipo- 
tence of speculation and commerce to which the 



75 

appeal is so often complacently made, is wholly- 
dashed to pieces by many great and small acci- 
dents. Of as deeply affecting results as the extra- 
ordinary scarcity of the bread fruits, is on the other 
hand, again, their unusual cheapness. But now, 
the consideration of a long period, shows that these 
extremes on both sides, form not the exception but 
the rule. Hence the inquiry how to meet it, be- 
longs to the greatest and most important problems 
which the reflective spirit of man can undertake 
to solve. 

The two greatest monarch s of the last century 
were deeply penetrated by the seriousness of this 
question, and sought to obtain a solution by means 
which their times furnished. Some weeks after 
his mounting the throne, Frederick II. wrote to 
Voltaire, that the increase of the welfare of his 
people engaged all his anxious care. This great 
spirit did not rest satisfied with words only; he 
proceeded also, immediately to action, and carried 
into execution a measure which gained him great 
fame. He determined to erect in every province 
of his State, magazines of grain, and with such 
comprehensive stores, that they might feed the 
whole collective population for one and a half 
years. To give vitality to this work, he needed 
immense sums, and these Frederick II. provided for 
without endangering thereby other far-reaching 
plans. 

Thus, Frederick II. made himself the regulator of 
the price of bread ; he had the grain market wholly 



76 

in his own hands; for he possessed the power to 
aid as well in the greatest scarcity as in an equally 
injurious one of the too great cheapness of the 
grain. To secure the welfare of his people, he 
established a highest as well as a lowest price of 
grain. If in times of scarcity the market price 
reached above the maximum, then the granaries 
were thrown open for consumers. In the case of the 
reverse, in times of excess, when the market price 
sunk below the minimum, and thus there was dan- 
ger that the too great cheapness might ruin the 
husbandman, the State-magazines offered to the 
producer sure protection. If he could not get rid 
of his crops in the market at the lowest price estab- 
lished by the State, then he furnished them at that 
price to the king's granaries. 

The idea of this beneficial arrangement is, in- 
deed, most simple, but it is again so great, that it, 
of itself, proclaimed loudly the deep spirit of this 
admirable man. The advantage which the ener- 
getic prosecution of this measure afforded to the 
Prussian people, was so evident, that the noble 
Joseph II., who was eager to share in the illustrious 
fame of his great neighbor, sought to tread in the 
same path. Not formed to follow Frederick II. in 
his glorious career of the fame of his arms, he 
made the welfare of his people the object of his 
life. In an edict of 9th of June, 1788, Joseph II. 
commanded that every subject cultivating the soil* 
of the four kinds of grain which he raised, after 
deducting the seed-corn, should carry the third 



77 

part of the amount of seed-corn needed for other- 
wise defraying the winter and summer seeding, to 
the granaries of the parish, and continue this con- 
tribution for three years, in order that, in every 
province, on every estate, and in every provincial 
city, stores might be brought in large enough to 
cover the winter and summer seeding for one year. 
These stores were to serve for the purpose of sus- 
taining the needy husbandman in case of necessity, 
and so protect him against want and suffering. 
First, the excess should be applied to the support 
of others suffering from want. Where this edict 
was obeyed, it fully proved of the greatest advantage. 
But in spite of all repetitions and greater string- 
encies of the command, it did not succeed even 
to the latest period, in securing admission and 
obedience in all places. As a reason of this, the 
government assigns the indolence of the subordinate 
officers, which they could not change, notwithstand- 
ing all their admonitions and detailed instructions. 
Good-will can not be supplied at any time by com- 
mand and compulsion. But, by itself, this regula- 
tion was only a half-way measure, which had in it 
much that was hateful. The name even, " Contri- 
bution-grain," was, of itself, a very displeasing one. 
In our day, the question has become more and 
more urgent, from year to year, especially, as in the 
course of time, divers beneficial arrangements of 
patriarchal antiquity have disappeared. The oth- 
erwise so rich sources of aids in years of scarcity, 
the income of nature garnered up, which dispensed 
7* 



78 

upon the market in the times of want, in many 
ways, afforded relief, have become more and more 
exhausted since persons have begun to convert the 
income of their crops into cash. Hence, the solu- 
tion of this question becomes continually more 
prominent ; already, the policy of self-preservation 
urges us to remove the difficulties which every day 
assume a more threatening aspect. To Frederick 
alone belongs the honor of having shown, that the 
problem is not incapable of being solved. The 
demand of the future is unavoidable ; the hour is 
certainly not far off in which this question will most 
seriously require a solution. But the times now 
are different from the days of Frederick II., and on 
this account, so must be the means. The people still 
look in years of necessity, confidingly, to the gov- 
ernments ; hence they expect relief, while the 
means of the State are entirely insufficient to afford 
the aid. In the year of scarcity of 1817, the French 
government expended almost eighteen and three- 
fourths millions of thalers ($15,000,000) in the 
purchase of grain, and they could thus provide the 
country with bread for only eight days. " Help 
yourself and God will help you!" is also said here. 
It is the voluntary association of all, only, which 
can cause the need to disappear. Many things 
have been done in our day to reach this end ; but 
the beginning is yet very small. 

The Savings associations, and funds for the sick, 
the soup-establishments and similar plans, exist more 
in cities, but like drops, which disappear without 






79 

a trace in the ocean. The main object, is the gath- 
ering up of the crops in the time of abundance, and 
their preservation for the year of want. This ques- 
tion has been discussed in very many ways within 
the last years ; but until now, it has been preached 
in deaf ears. 

First of all, it is absolutely necessary to become 
convinced that as in respect to .the common mode, 
salting of flesh, so too, the usual method of pre- 
serving grain on floored rooms, is precisely the least 
to be recommended. Here, indeed, the disposition 
of man comes to our aid ; but leaving himself to 
this, a person too often neglects the necessary pre- 
caution. If any one consider the rooms which 
usually serve for the laying up of stores of grain, 
the greatest defects are at once obvious. The 
board-flooring offer in the thousand unevennesses, 
joints and hollows, the surest loop-holes to insects 
for the propagation of their young. The roofs, of 
unequal thickness, allow numerous passages for 
rain and snow. Further, little care is taken to 
keep off fowls, rats and mice from the stores. At- 
tention is rarely paid to a sufficient ventilation, or 
again, the rain and snow are suffered to have free 
entrance through the opened hatchways and win- 
dows, In this way, your large heaps are exposed 
to ruin, more than any one would imagine. Be- 
sides, this method of preservation demands the 
greatest precaution. The heaps of grain must often 
be shaken up, especially in sultry and hot days, to 
protect it from fermentation, and the ravage of the 



80 

grain-worm. By this labor, the grain is rendered 
dearer. If, now, we reckon the further loss by 
fire, — and immediately after the harvest, these are 
most frequent in the country, — it will be evident to 
every one, that a great quantity is lost from the 
blessing of the land, year after year, without being 
of any benefit to man. 

The stores of grain are best preserved by the 
perfect exclusion of the atmospheric air ; then no 
repeated shaking of it up is necessary ; losses by 
conflagrations, as well as by mice, rats and insects 
are impossible. Generally, the grain will keep 
much longer and better in this way, than in the 
usual magazines. Here, again, we may go to 
school to the ancients. Already, Pliny and Cur- 
tins Rufus, relate, that in the granaries of that time, 
which, alas! are mostly dried up for us, especially 
in Asia and Africa, in Cappadocia, France, and 
even in Spain,— u they preserved the rich supplies in 
subterraneous pits. These were called Siri's or 
Silo's. Pliny boasts of them, that they would pre- 
serve grain, in the ear, unhurt, for fifty, and, indeed? 
one hundred years. Such pits, according to the 
assertion of Tacitus, were also in use among our 
German ancestors. Even to-day, we find them in 
the countries of the South, in Hungary, Sicily, 
France, Spain, &c, of various sorts; among us, in 
the course of time, they have grown out of use, and 
therewith has vanished also the passage of Taci- 
tus, — de moribus Germaniae Chap 16, — from the 
memories of many. For when, recently, these 



81 

best methods for the preservation of grain were 
again proposed, they were generally resisted, on the 
ground that such arrangements were practicable 
only in warmer regions, but not in our country, as 
here the rougher circumstances of the climate 
would be too unfavorable. But this pre-judgment 
has long been contradicted by practice, though 
without the Silos having found a more extended 
introduction. 

Having shown how excellently flesh can be kept 
by total exclusion from the air, it is needless to 
waste many words further respecting the applica- 
tion of this method to grain. We know that the 
atmospheric air hastens the decomposition of all 
organic substances, and that insects of every kind 
are attracted, and very much favored in their devel- 
opment, by nothing more than by this process of 
decomposition. The old proverb says, " one evil 
seldom comes alone." If the assertion of Pliny 
goes for nothing, yet modern times afford us still 
more striking examples. There have been found 
in Egyptian mummies, grains of wheat which, sown 
in the ground, have perfectly developed themselves. 
These grains, therefore, have thus, for thousands of 
years, preserved their germinating power, most per- 
fectly, just because, during the whole time, they 
were without contact with the atmospheric air. 

But the experiments, too, which have been in- 
stituted in Austria, show that the preservation in 
Silos is precisely the cheapest, and, as is usually 
the case, the now universally adopted method, is 



82 

the dearest. If, for instance, for a definite quantity 
of grain, we put — 

The cost of preservation in Silos at 100, then the 
preservation of the same amount in grain-towers, 
according to Sinclair, reaches to 140. 

The preservation of the same in Vallery's grain- 
cylinders to 212.33, and, 

In the usual cribs, including the shoveling of it 
about, almost to 277.78. 

Still more solidly are all the prejudices which 
are prevalent among us against Silos, contradicted 
by the Mansfeld Cupriferious Slate-Mining Com- 
pany. This mining company has the reputation of 
providing for the welfare of their workmen, in such 
a way as scarcely exists in any other industrial 
company. Among other things, they have hit upon 
the arrangement, deserving of all praise, of providing 
their laborers in time of necessity, with bread ; and, 
indeed, at a far lower price than it commands at 
the time in the market. For this object, the com- 
pany have for twenty years made use of Silos. Here 
we may learn how such repositories are constructed. 

First, the ground for the site is carefully selected; 
it must be dry, and protected from overflows. The 
most appropriate soil for this, is a water-tight loam, 
free from sand. In this, is dug out a cylindrical 
pit of 16 feet diameter, and 31 feet depth, which 
space is suited for the reception of 100 to 120 wis- 
pels,* (probably about 3,750 to 4,500 bushels.) If the 

* The wispel varies in different parts of Germany from 30 up to 
70 bushels. As the particular country of this writer is not known, it 



83 

loam is very binding, it needs no wood-structure ; 
but it is to be protected against the rain by an 
easily built cover. Then the pit is walled up. In 
the Mansfeld, this is done by slag from the sur- 
rounding mines, and gypsum, which is mixed with 
coal-tar. In other places, well-glazed bricks and 
hydraulic-lime will serve the same purpose. If the 
bottom has been paved in this way, the walls are 
carried up 13J feet diameter in the clear, and 16J 
feet perpendicular. The space between the ground 
and the wall is filled in with dry loam, carefully 
stamped down tight. Then the wall is built above 
with a semicircular dome of 6J feet high, from com- 
mon slag ; this, at the top, has an opening of 2\ feet 
wide, and on this, finally, is raised the neck, 5 feet 
high. The dome and neck are likewise surrounded 
with dry loam firmly pounded down. The first 
cost of construction of a Silo of the above given 
dimensions, among the Friedeberg mines does 
not usually amount to 100 thalers, (about $80.) 

If the ground is less favorable, every danger 
threatening moisture is removed, by surrounding 
the space immediately containing the grain, at a 
distance of 1-2 foot, with a second wall, and the 
space between is pounded down tight with clay. 
Further, the mason-work in the interior of the pit, 
is all coated with asphalt, so that the penetration of 

is impossible to give the precise amount in English. If the usual 
one of grain is taken, a wispel will be about 37^ bushels, and the 
capacity would be as indicated above. — Tr. 



84 

moisture is wholly impossible. Besides, in the con- 
struction of the Silos, it must, at the same time, be 
observed, that the depth be that to which the great- 
est variations of temperature of the air do not ex- 
tend. If the mouth lies below six feet, the grain is 
no longer exposed to the influences of the outward 
heat, and at this depth it is also perfectly secured 
from the frost. If an addition is made, and a shed 
is built over the Silo, then there is not the slightest 
reason to fear the moisture, warmth and cold. 
Planting of trees near Silos, is not to be recom- 
mended. 

In the filling up of a Silo, the following measures 
of precaution are observed in the Mansfeld ones. 

First, there is maintained in the pit for several 
days, a moderate coal-fire, in order to remove every 
trace of moisture. The pouring in takes place at 
intervals, so that the grain may lie perfectly level. 
For this, some weeks are needed, and fine, dry 
weather is to be chosen. It is, of course, under- 
stood that the grain must be well-dried. When 
the pit is filled up to the neck, then there is spread 
upon the surface of the grain, a layer of dry, long 
straw, and on this, there is put dry loam up to the 
opening of the mouth, which is firmly pounded 
down. Lastly, the opening is shut with a closely- 
fitting stone, and this again is covered up to the 
surface of the ground with loam. 

In other places, they lay the bottom all over 
abundantly with dry straw or chaff, and pour upon 
it two to three inches of fresh burned lime. Over 



85 

this is spread a coarse linen cloth, in such a man- 
ner that it rises somewhat on the sides, in order to 
render easier the laying of dry straw and burnt 
lime. As the grain in pouring in rises on the side- 
walls, these are further laid with straw and lime, 
which are both held fast by the pressure of the 
grain. The layer of straw and lime serves for the 
reception of the moisture from the grain ; thus the 
moulding and dampness of the fruit are prevented. 
In t'he Mansfeld Silos this does not seem to have 
occurred ; on this account, here the moisture was 
attracted to the uppermost layer of the grain, and 
that lying immediately next to the encircling 
walls, which were more or less spoiled, according 
to the duration of the preservation. But the loss 
was of no great consequence \ varying from only 
0.75 to 1.5 per cent., and this refuse, for the most 
part, was yet of some value as cow-feed. 

In the Silos of the Mansfeld Mining Company, 
they have preserved grain, uninjured, from five to 
thirteen years. The products, when taken out, were 
almost exactly the same ; the rye, even after seven- 
teen years, afforded a good, fine-tasting bread. 
Even the first outlays of the year 1837 and 1838, 
yielded a very favorable result. The loss in 2,000 
scheffels only amounted to 30 scheffels or 1.5 per ct. 
In consequence of this satisfactory experiment, the 
number of Silos, of the given dimensions, was in- 
creased to thirteen. Ten lie in the neighborhood of 
the Friedeburg mines, and three at Sangerhausen. 
For filling up these, were used the cheap years of 
8 



86 

1848 and 1849. The purchase amounted to 1,375 
wispels, at the price of 1 thaler to 1.3 sgr. per 
scheffel. The grain remained beneath the ground 
four to five years; the scarcity in the autumn of 
1853, compelled the opening of the Silos, and again 
they gave surprisingly favorable results. 

In the opening of two Silos, which were filled 
with 6,406 schefFels, there was an excess of 171 
scheffels, or, after deducting the grain spoiled, 80 
scheffels, and so still an excess of 91 scheffels. In- 
cluding all the interest and cost, the price of the 
grain preserved, amounted per scheffel, to 1 J thaler, 
while the market-price in that region, ranged from 
2J to 3 thalers. Hence, the Mining company were 
in a condition, without suffering material loss, to let 
their laborers have the grain at a price of 1 thaler 5 
sgr., — cheap, indeed, for the state of circumstances 
then prevailing, and at 42.44 per cent, of the market- 
price. The whole store lasted till the end of June, 
1854. 

The College of Land-husbandry, in Berlin, were 
induced to bring to the knowledge of husbandmen, 
the favorable results which the Mansfeld Mining 
Company had obtained in the preservation of 
grain ; but it appears that these words have not 
fallen upon a fruitful soil. In the province of 
Saxony, they went further. In 1854, they called 
for formation of a Silo-Bank, by means of stocks or 
bond shares. The ground capital of the company, 
was to amount to one million of thalers ; and, in 
in order to bring it within the reach of those of 



87 

small means, there were to be given out 37,000 
shares of the stock, at 25 thalers, whereby the pay- 
ment of course should become valid. For this they 
wished, in the time of abundance, to collect and 
store up 37,000 wispels of grain, and in the time of 
want, sell it within the province, in order as far as 
possible, to counteract the ruinous fluctuations of 
the price of grain, and certain usurious specula- 
tions. But at that time, there was a depression in 
stocks, to which only too soon followed the bad 
news which had not yet broken in upon our country. 
Though it was believed to have been proved to 
demonstration, certainly, that no loss was to be 
feared in this business, but a considerable gain to 
be hoped for ; yet the matter appeared to have 
found no approval with our monied men. At 
least, there was nothing made public respecting the 
result of these efforts. 

We might here expect, that their own interests 
would have stimulated the intelligent husbandmen, 
during the universal affliction of our days, to make 
arrangements for the preservation of the potatoes, 
in carefully prepared Silos Of itself alone, this 
would have afforded little help ; but it is more the 
question, whether or not the use of sulphurous 
acid, one of those substances which must power- 
fully act against putrefaction, would have been of 
service. For this end, it would be necessary by 
some kind of apparatus, to be able after the pot 
was filled, and a small opening still remained, to burn 
sulphur in the ground, where it was situated. The 



88 

fumes might then be conducted into the pit, and 
thus fill it with them, before it is entirely closed up. 
The good service which this process has afforded 
in the preservation of wine, as well as that which 
the use of sulphurous acid has contributed in the 
preparation of sugar in the colonies, make the ex- 
periments alluded to very desirable. But, as it 
was in Goethe's day, so it is at the present day, 
men are quick with words but slow in deeds* 
Thus, much as the necessity of our times demands 
it, yet it is a very long time before good advice takes 
root. And so the thousands, yea, millions, must 
wait still a long while with empty hands and empty 
stomachs for the comfort of the future. 



NOTES. 

The following items which I have taken from pages 295 and 296 of 
Wells' Annual or Scientific Discovery, for 1857, are appropriate to 
the subject of the preceding treatise. 

" Joan Wothly, of Zoffinger, Switzerland, has obtained a patent for 
the following method of preserving meat. The meat is first cut into 
pieces of about 10 lbs. in weight, and separated from the bones. 
These are then dusted over with sugar and salt, and allowed to stand 
about two days, and are then subjected to pressure in order that all 
the blood and serous matter may be forced out ; or in place of being 
pressed, they are moderately cooked before packing. They are then 
placed in casks lined with melted fat. 

Each piece is covered with a piece of white paper well-greased, 
packed in the barrel, and fat poured in to fill up the spaces between 
the pieces. This meat cask is then closed and placed within a larger 
one, and the space between the two filled up with sand, which is a 
good non-conductor. 

M. Demait, of Paris, has patented a peculiar method of treating flesh 
to preserve it for use, like our common smoked beef. The meat to be 
preserved is cut into pieces and strung on a cord at a suitable distance 
apart from one another. These are then hung on rods and suspended 
in an air-tight chamber, which has a furnace at its bottom. The 
chamber is then heated up to about one hundred degrees Eahrenheit 
and a preparation of four ounces of the flour of sulphur, two and a 
half ounces of lime, and a handful of green mint leaves is thrown 
upon the fire, and the doors closed. An opening in the bottom of the 
chamber admits the gas from the furnace, to the action of which the 
meat is submitted for eighteen hours. At the end of this time the 
meat is withdrawn and suspended in a moderately warm room, where 
it is dried. This process is to make finely flavored dry meat, capable 
of keeping a long period. The pieces of meat are pressed to remove 
the blood before being strung on the cords. 

Joseph Hand, of London, has also secured a patent for preserving 
meat by a process varying but little from the above. It consists in 
exposing the meat in a close chamber, to the action of binoxyd of 

8* 



90 

nitrogen, nitrous acid, and sulphurous acid, in a gaseous state, either 
singly or combined. 

M. Martin de Lignac, of Paris, has also been granted a patent for 
preserving meat. It consists in cutting raw meat into cubes about an 
inch square and subjecting them in close chambers to currents of 
warm air at about seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, until the meat 
has lost half its weight, It is then powerfully compressed in cylin- 
drical tin boxes to about one-fifth the space occupied before it was 
dried up. The lids of the boxes are then soldered on and a small 
hole left in the top of each. The boxes are then submitted to a heat 
of two hundred and twelve degrees, to raise any moisture in the meat 
into a steam, when they are soldered up perfectly tight." 

Besides the above the following receipts and statements drawn from 
the same valuable annual collection of scientific facts, will without 
doubt be of interest to the reader of this volume. 

METHOD OF PRESERVING MILK. 

" One table-spoonful of a solution of soda, made by dissolving one 
ounce of carbonate of soda in a quart of water, is introduced into a 
quart bottle nearly filled with new milk. The bottle is then corked, 
the cork being securely fastened, and the bottles are put into a copper 
or other vessel containing cold water, which is to be gradually brought 
to the boiling point, after which the bottles must remain in the water 
till cold, when they may be packed away." 

" The following improved method of preserving milk has been dis- 
covered and patented by Mr. F. H. Louis ; the milk is to be mixed 
with well clarified raw sugar, four ounces to the gallon. It is then 
to be evaporated with agitation. When nearly solid, it must be 
pressed into cakes of suitable size. Steam may be used for the evap- 
oration ; or if time is no object, spontaneous evaporation in very shal- 
low pans, with the fluid not more than one tenth of an inch in depth, 
or a drying chamber may be used, the temperature not to exceed one 
hundred and twenty-two deg. Fahrenheit. The cakes remain sweet and 
fresh for a long time, and are soluble in warm water. Another process 
is to heat the sweetened milk nearly to the boiling point, and before 
it becomes cold, to curdle it by rennet or a weak acid. The curd is 
separated from the whey, and by strong pressure, after washing in 
cold water, it is obtained free from adhering water. The whey is to 
be evaporated to dryness. The curd placed over a slow fire, is con- 
tinually stirred, and the dried whey added very gradually, with a 
small portion of bicarbonate of soda. After a while the ingredients 



91 

melt and unite. A small quantity of finely pulverized gum-dragin 
hastens the solidification. Cream may be preserved by the same 
method." — Chemical Gazette. — From Wells' Annual Scientific Dis- 
covery for 1850, pp. 184, 5. 

The following method may be the same as the foregoing, though 
elsewhere mentioned. 

SOLIDIFIED MILK. 

" A new method of making solidified milk, as adopted with success, 
by Mr. Blatchford, of Amenia, Dutchess Co., New York, is thus de- 
scribed in the New York Medical Journal, for October, by Dr. 
Doremus : — 

" To 112 lbs. of milk, 28 lbs. of Stuart's white sugar were added and a 
trivial portion of bi-carbonate of soda, a tea-spoonful, merely enough 
to insure the neutralizing of any acidity, which in the summer season 
is exhibited even a few minutes after milking, though inappreciable to 
the organs of taste. The sweet milk was poured into evaporating ves- 
sels of enameled iron, embedded in warm water heated by steam. The 
heat of the water is regulated by a thermometer. By means of blowers 
and other apparatus, a current of air is also created between the covers 
and the solidifying milk ; " connected with the steam engine is an ar- 
rangement of stirrers for agitating the milk slightly while evaporating, 
and so gently as not to churn it." It is thus by constant manipula- 
ting and warming, reduced to a creamy-like powder, then ex- 
posed to the air to cool, weighed in parcels a pound each, and by a 
press with the force of a ton or two, made to assume the compact form 
of a tablet (the size of a small brick) in which shape it is covered 
with tin foil, &c." 

The doctor adds : " Some of the solidified milk which had been 
grated and dissolved in water the previous evening, was found cov- 
ered with a rich cream ; this skimmed off was soon converted into 
wine-whey by a treatment precisely similar to that employed in using 
ordinary milk. It fully equaled the expectations of all ; so that so- 
lidified milk hereafter ranks among the necessary appendages of the 
sick-room. In fine, this article makes paps, custards, pudding and 
cakes, equal to the best milk. For our steam-ships and packets, for 
those traveling by land or by sea, for hotel purposes, or use in private 
families, for 3'Dung or old, we recommend it cordially as a substitute 
for fresh milk. — Wells' Annual of Scientific Discovery , for 1855, p. 26. 



92 

Gail Borden Jr's process of concentrating and preserving milk is 
thus described in a recent public journal. " The milk as it is received 
from the farmers in cans of six to eight gallons each, is at once de- 
prived of its animal heat by placing the pans in ice-cold water. It is 
then while in the cans subjected to a heat of one hundred and sixty 
to one hundred and ninety degrees, a few degrees below boiling point. 
Thus prepared the milk is immediately transferred to the boiler, a huge 
receptacle of cast iron of incalculable strength. "While there subjected 
by means of steam, to a heat of from one hundred and twenty to one 
hundred and fifty degrees, the air is withdrawn by two nicely adjusted 
air-pumps, and the process of evaporation commences. The vapor 
as it forms, and this it does with surprising rapidity within the vacuum, 
is as rapidly condensed and thrown off by means of the pumps, and 
so quick is the process, that according to our information a boiler of 
five hundred quarts can be reduced to one hundred and twenty-five 
quarts within one and a half hour. The liquid thrown off by the 
evaporation is clear like water, has a sickish, unpleasant taste, in no 
way resembling milk, and its smell is slightly offensive. It is con- 
sidered that the concentrated article is rendered purer by the process, 
to say nothing of its other advantages." 

" Mr. Borden's process is simple. He evaporates seven hundred 
and fifty of the eight hundred and forty parts in all milk, and leaves 
as a residuum a thick paste which can at any time be reconverted into 
milk by restoring the water. One tea-spoonful of the condensed sub- 
stance to four of pure water, will make rioh country milk precisely as 
it comes from the cow, while one in five will produce a richer com- 
pound than is often sold in cities. The addition of one or two parts 
of water makes a rich cream. 

Mr. Borden has established a condenser (capable of reducing 5,000 
quarts per day,) in Litchfield County, one of the richest graziug dis- 
tricts in Connecticut, where the unadulterated article can be bought 
at two cents a quart. The heat is applied under a covered kettle 
from which the air is thus evaporated. The remainder is brought to 
market. It will be sold in New York at about thirty-two cents a quart. 
This will bring the cost when restored by the addition of four times 
its bulk of water, to sixpence a quart. The milk trade of New York, 
amounts to over $4,000,000 per year. That of Boston must exceed 
$1,000,000 per year." " This fluid suffers no deterioration from a 
long voyage." — Puritan Recorder, Sept. 18, 1857. 



93 



PREPARING AND PRESERVING BUTTER. 

The St. Louis Republican, states, that E. H. Merryman has invented 
and patented a machine by which he is enabled to restore to its origi- 
nal sweetness the most rancid butter. It is also designed for prepar- 
ing and packing butter. It consists simply of two rollers in immedi- 
ate contact with each other, operated by a crank and spur-wheels. 
They are placed in a trough and partially submerged in water. As 
the butter passes between the wheels, every particle is brought into 
immediate contact with the water, which washes away the butter-milk 
as fast as it is pressed out. After this it is only necessary to salt and 
pack it away in close vessels, and it will be preserved sweet and pure 
for a long time. The machine occupies a space of about four feet by 
two, and a single person ean work with it 720 lbs. of butter per hour. 
Kancid butter put into it comes out completely divested of all rancid 
taste or smell. — Wells' Annual of Scientific Discovery, for 1851,^. 47- 



Mr. Chambord gives the following receipt for the preservation of 
Eggs. " By submitting a thin stratum'of the white and yolks of eggs 
about one and a half inches thick, upon glass or porcelain plates, to 
the heat of an oven, a mass will be obtained after twenty-four hours 
drying, readily pulverized, and which is not altered by the action of 
the air, after drying again a day. Each pound of powdered eggs 
thus prepared, when desired for use, requires two pounds of cold water 
with which it is to be beaten up, and is equivalent to fifty eggs, and 
may be used for omelets, pastries and other culinary purposes." — 
Annual of Scientific Discovery, for 1855,/). 108. 

NEW METHOD OF PRESERVING WHEAT. 

" A Mr. Adams in a late number of the Journal of the London So- 
ciety of Arts, has made a suggestion for a new kind of granary, by 
which he thinks that grain may be safely and effectually preserved for 
any number of years." 

He recommends a metallic reservoir like an iron water-tank, and 
says that iC a cubic foot of water-tank on a very large scale, will be 
found to cost very much less than a cubic foot of tin canister on a 
small scale." 

"This tank should be constructed of small parts, connected by 
screw-bolts, and consequently easily transported from place to place . 
The internal parts should be galvanized to prevent rust, and the ex. 
ternal part also if desired. It should be hermetically tight at all the 
points, and the only opening should be whatis called a man-hole, i. e., a 



94 

canister top where the lid goes on, large enough to admit a man. 
When filled with grain the top should be put on, the fitting of the 
edge forming an air-tight joint. Wheat put dry into such a vessel 
and without any vermin, would remain wheat any number of years." 
An air pump, he mentions, could also be used, and to draw or 
force a current of warm air through the grain, and carry off the 
moisture. It might also be buried in the ground, puiinto a cellar, 
&c. The grain could be poured in and extracted by an Archimedean 
Screw. If above ground, a stair or ladder to be used for the upper 
part, and the lower part formed like a hopper for discharging the 
grain. " Granaries of this description would occupy less than one- 
third the cubic space of those of the ordinary description and their 
cost would be less than one-fifth." — Wells' Annual of Scientific Dis- 
covery, for 1855, pp. 118, 119. 



BRINE A POISON. 

M. Regnal, of the Veterinary School at Ayort, France, has commu- 
nicated to the Imperial Academy of Medicine, the results of investiga- 
tions upon the poisonous properties acquired by brine after a consid- 
erable length of time, in which pork and other meats had been salted 
or pickled. The poisonous properties, he states, are acquired in two 
or three months after the preparation of the brine, and its use then, 
mixed with food for any length of time, even although in small quan- 
tities, may produce death. A simple solution in salt and water, after 
the same length of time, does not produce the same effect. The poi- 
son acts as a local irritant, exciting violent intestinal congestion and 
inflammation. It likewise increases the secretion of the skin and 
kidneys, and exerts a direct effect on the nervous system, giving rise 
to trembling, loss of sensation, convulsions, &c. — Wells' Annual of 
Scientific Discovery for 1857, p. 366. 



The following is from the account given by Dr. Ashbel Smith, 
of the meat-biscuit, mentioned on p. 65, &c. . 

Borden's Meat Biscuit. — The nutritive portions of the beef 
or other meat, immediately on its being slaughtered, are by long boil- 
ing, separated from the bones and fibrous and cartilaginous matters. 
The water holding the nutritious matters in solution, is evaporated 
to a considerable degree of thickness ; this is then made into a dough 
with fine wheat flour, the dough rolled and cut into the form of bis- 
cuits , and dried or baked in an oven at a moderate heat. They are 
best kept in tin-cases, hermetically sealed ; humidity is to be guarded 
against ; the air is of less consequence. 

For making soup of the meat-biscuit, a batter is first made of the 
pulverized biscuit and cold water ; this is stirred into boiling water ; 
the boiling is continued some ten or twenty minutes, salt, pepper, &c, 
being added to suit the taste, and the soup is ready for the table." 
Wells' Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1851, pp. 80, frl. 



INDEX. 



Translator's notice, ^ ..... 

Embalming and preserving the dead, &c, in Egypt, 

Thales' testimony on the subject, 

Pliny's statement of the ancient modes of preserving food, &c, 

Chemical nature of food and cause of spoiling, . 

Influence of moisture, .... 

Effect of the oxygen of the air, .... 

Composition of vegetable food, 

Means of preservation of vegetables, 

Modes of preserving flesh in general, 

Salting of meats, 

Effect of salted food on the system, scurvy, &c., 

Salt as used for vegetable food, . . . . 

Preserving of fruits by means of sugar, spirits and vinegar, 

Smoking and drying, as means of preserving meats, 

The theory or philosophy of this mode, . 

Receipts for smoking by means of pyroligneous acid, &c, 

Improvements of science on the subject, 

Effect of boiling water, &c, .... 

Appert's method, .... * 

Trial in the Ai-ctic polar expeditions of Ross, &c, . 
Description of the principle, &c, of Appert's method, 
Objections to Appert's method, 
History of its progress and success in England, France, Ger- 
many, &c, . . . . . . .29 

Modes of putting up the meats, &c, in detail, . . 30 

Preservation of eggs and butter, (see also Notes, p. 93,) 31, 32 

Object to be secured in respect to eggs, and means, . . 31 

" " " " " to butter, and means, . . 32 

Need and use of vegetable food with animal, . . 33 

Mode of preservation of vegetables by drying, . . .34 

Difficulties and objections, or disadvantages of this mode, . 35 

Masson's mode by hydraulic pressure of vegetables, described, &c, 35 
Practicability and effect of operation, . . . .36 

Examination of the Masson process, by the French Academy, 37 
Xxannal's success in preserving dead bodies, . .' .38 

Gannal's method of preserving vegetable food, . . 39 

Its success, . . . . . . .39 

Use in the navy and prevention of the scurvy, . . 40 

Experiments as to Gannal's method, in different places, . 40 

Importance of its applications, .... 41 



Page. 
. 5 
6 
9 

10 
. 11 

12 
. 13 

14 
. 15 

15 
. 16 

18 
. 20 

21 < 

22 
. 23 

23 
. 24 

25 
. 26 

26 
. 28 

29 



96 



Page. 
Varieties of tropical fruits that may be used — cassava, banana, 

bread fruit, ...... 44 ; 46 

Preservation of meats by drying and pressure, . . .45 

Mode adopted in South America, Tasajo, ... 46 

Mode among Indians, &c, of North America, Pemmican, . 47 

Advantages and importance of successful results, for Europe, 48 
Preservation of milk ; by reducing to powder or paste ; milk 

conserves, . . . . . . 49, 50 

Lignac's method of preserving milk, &c, (see Notes, p. 90,) . 50 
Success and use, ...... 51 

Preservation of milk by ice, . . . . 51, 52 

Exhibition of preserved meats and vegetables in Munich, . 54 

Frankfort pressed vegetables ; table of prices, &c, . 54, 55, 56 

Display in the Industrial Palace at Paris, 57 

Exhibition of preserved food by different modes, at Paris, 58, 59\^ 

Meats preserved by a gelatinous coating or conservatine, described, 59 
Value of this method of preserving food, and application, . 60 

Lamy's method, as shown at the Paris Exhibition, . . 62 

Advantages of Lamy's method, cheapness &c, . . 63, 64 

Soup-cakes and meat-biscuit at the Paris Exhibition, . 65 

Nature and effect of soup on the animal system, . . 66 

Portable soup, &c, and gelatine, .... 67 

Controversy and various judgments respecting gelatine, &c, . 68 
Decision of the French Academy, . . . .68 

Other soup-cakes, . . '. . . .69 

Gail Borden's meat-biscuit, (see Notes, p. 94,) . . 71, 72 

Number of exhibitors of prepared food in the French Exhibition, 73 
Recent scarcity of food in Europe and need of effective modes 

of supply, . . . . . • .74 

Method of laying up grain adopted by Frederick II. of Prussia, 75, 76 
" " " " by Joseph II. of Austria, 76 

Objections to the usual modes of preserving grain, . 77, 79, 80 

Ancient modes of preserving grain by pits in the earth, . 81 

Comparative expense of various modes, . . .82 

Method by Silos, in use by the Mansfeld Mining Company, 

detailed, ...... 81-85 

Success, cheapness of Silos, &c, . 86-88 

NOTES. 

Wothly's method of preserving meat, . . . .89 

Demaits' " " " " . 89 

Hand's " " "..... 89 

Lignac's " " " " ... 90 

Methods of preserving milk and butter, . . 90, 93 

" " " grain in iron tanks, . . .93, 94 

Brine a poison, . . . . - . .94 

Borden's meat-biscuit, ..... 94 



w 



\ 19M* 



JZ 



ERRATA. 

A few slight errors have escaped the Editor's notice in the print- 
ing, as he was obliged to correct and transmit the proof with the 
least possible delay. 

On page 9, 4th line from top, for " have they " read " was to be." 
" 11, 14th " " for "with" read "in." 
" 21, 16th " " for " condensed" read " condense." 
" 26, 3d " " for " 1803 " read " 1809." 

" 36, 4th " " for " weigh " read " weighs." 
" 40, 4th " " after " carried " insert " out." 
" 49, 6th line from bottom, read " Grimaud" and " Bobinet." 
" 56, Note 2d " insert " it " before " is." 

" 57, line 6th " for " aw" read " mw." 

" 58 , " 12th « read " Chollet." 
" 58, " 4th " insert " meat " after " fresh." 
" 79, " 6th " for " your " read " yearly." 
" 86, " 4th " insert " the " before " formation." 



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